


Episode II: Attack of the Clones

by StormWolfe



Series: Hearts of Kyber [3]
Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Also you get to meet Count Dooku so that's nice, Anakin Skywalker Needs a Hug, F/M, Gen, Human Disaster Anakin Skywalker, I think every work in this will have one, I would give Shmi a bigger role in this one if I knew how, Obi-Wan needs to learn how to accept and give hugs, Padmé really is a sweetheart, Yes Jar Jar Binks is in this one too I am so sorry, You need a hug, guess why there's a major character death tag, he has a smaller role, so little divergence from canon, so much setup
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-01-26 01:10:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21365707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StormWolfe/pseuds/StormWolfe
Summary: Ten years after the end of Episode I, a call for protection among rising Separatist tensions brings about a long-awaited reunion. Investigations reveal deep secrets and long term plans coming to fruition, and while some things remain unchanged, other things change forever. Both set a very dangerous course for the galaxy in every sense of the word, and that which was unforseen lurks in the shadows, brewing and waiting.
Relationships: Anakin/Reader, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Reader, Padmé Amidala & Reader, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Series: Hearts of Kyber [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1395703
Comments: 41
Kudos: 102





	1. Opening Crawl

**Author's Note:**

> (Please read Episode I first if you haven't already. The Padawan Chronicles is not necessary to read for this work, but is highly encouraged, as it sets some things up and will be alluded back to.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As in the chapter title, the opening to a whole new can of worms!
> 
> Updates will be posted eventually, (hopefully soon but finals are fast approaching), but I needed to get this out of my drafts before it got deleted automatically (again).
> 
> Enjoy!

There is unrest in the Galactic Senate. Several thousand solar systems have declared their intentions to leave the Republic.

This separatist movement, under the leadership of the mysterious Count Dooku, has made it difficult for the limited number of Jedi Knights to maintain peace and order in the galaxy.

Senator Amidala, the former Queen of Naboo, is returning to the Galactic Senate to vote on the critical issue of creating an ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC to assist the overwhelmed Jedi....


	2. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Returning from a mission, you receive some interesting orders from the Jedi Council.
> 
> Happy early holidays to everyone who is celebrating one!

The Temple was bustling with activity when Obi-Wan strode in from the landing garage, closely flanked by yourself and Anakin. Familiar as ever, golden sunlight filtered in through the high arches, illuminating the glassy silver of the walls and floor, as well as the groups of Jedi, padawans, guards, and the occasional visitor who walked the halls. You remembered the first time you had walked through these doors a padawan, fresh from Naboo’s victory celebrations. Everything had seemed much bigger and grander then. But, you were now ten years older, and a great deal taller; you hadn’t quite surpassed Obi-Wan in height the way Anakin had, but you were only a few inches shorter than your Master without boots. With them, you could look him in the eye with little trouble, and over the heads of nearly every other female in the Order with just as much ease. You supposed that change was bound to influence your perspective of things. Now, you walked to Obi-Wan’s right, head held high, Anakin a mirror image on the opposite side, all three of your cloaks billowing in your wake. Normally, the three of you didn’t walk with such proud confidence, but you had just settled a major dispute on Aniron--that victory was one that drew praise from Yoda and Master Windu, which in Jedi terms, was praise of the highest order. While you were all victoriously proud, in truth, all that any of you could think about was the promise of a hot shower.

“Get yourselves cleaned up. I will meet you in the dinner hall, and we will find something to do to celebrate,” Obi-Wan said, pausing before your chamber doors. “You two did an exceptional job today. I am very proud.” He gave you a smile, a small dismissive nod, and headed off towards his chambers.

You raised an eyebrow, amused, waiting until he had turned the corner out of earshot to speak. “You would think that he’d be less stiff about offering praise now.”

“He can’t be too nice.” Anakin gave you a sideways smirk. “If he was, his praise might go to our heads, and we have to be _ nice humble Jedi _.”

This drew a full laugh from you. “We’re plenty humble! I have _ no idea _ where they get those ‘ _ arrogant, headstrong’ _claims from!” You shared a knowing look. “We’d better do as he says, though. Otherwise he might celebrate without us.”

“Obi-Wan? Celebrate? I don’t think those words belong in the same sentence, (y/n).” 

You lightly swatted his upper arm. “You’re right, but I still stand by it. If he did party alone, it would be to illustrate how irresponsible we were by not being there on time to do so with him.” The door to your chambers slid open, revealing the standardly-sparse room within. You gave him a fleeting embrace, one he returned wholeheartedly. “I’m going to shower. You should too.”

“Are you saying I stink?” There it was again. That wide, smirking grin. In your time at the Temple, you had realized that it was one he reserved for you. He smiled at Obi-Wan, but it carried the defiant arrogance that underlined their teacher-student relationship. On the rare occasion he smiled at anyone else, it was a tight-lipped gesture of politeness. Even on Tatooine, his smile for Shmi was a son’s love without that mischievous smirk to it. This smile was one you knew very well. 

“I’m saying we both smell like we’ve been sparring on the backs of wild Bantha all day,” you shot back, giving him a grin as you backed towards your door. That, too, was one just for him. “Go! I’ll see you either out here or in the dining hall.” 

The shower was just as good as you had been anticipating, and when you emerged in a white towel, it was as though you had shed a skin. The clothes in the hamper smelled like sweat and dirt from a distance, and you pitied everyone who you’d walked past earlier as you pulled on a clean set of clothes. You paused at the door to hang a clean robe on the hook, your other having proven to be just as sweaty and dirty as the rest of your previous outfit.

“What do you think he has planned?” You asked, catching up with Anakin halfway down the hall. He smelled much better than when you had arrived, giving off the faint scent of a woodsy soap and toothpaste.

“Probably a meditative session.” 

“And here I thought we were going to joke about it.” You both burst into laughter, drawing startled looks from younger padawans you didn't know, who, by the looks of it, had never realized Jedi were allowed to find humor in anything.

You turned the corner to enter the dining hall just in time to see Obi-Wan come back through the doors, looking concerned. You both sped up to meet him.

“What happened?” You asked, falling in step with him alongside Anakin. 

“The Council has summoned us for a mission.” He sounded just as confused as you felt.

“We just got back, why would they be sending us out again right now?” Anakin sounded more worried than you were. Intergalactic tensions had certainly been high lately, and it was admittedly a rare occurrence when there were this many people in the Temple at once. At this rate, only the guards would be living here.

“That’s what we’re going to find out. Your timing was very opportune. I was just about to come find you.” You boarded the lift, and it promptly moved upwards. “They were aware we just returned. It is quite unlike them to immediately send out unrested Jedi when there are rested ones in residence, skill aside.”

The doors opened at the top of the tower, and the circular room gleamed at you in the early noon sunlight. Instinctively, you and Anakin held your tongues, letting Obi-Wan speak first. It was a practice that routinely irritated Anakin, but worse had come from not doing so.

“I received your message. What has happened?”

“A senator was attacked today upon landing here for the upcoming vote. An explosion decimated her ship just after she departed it. We suspect that whomever attacked her wishes to prevent her from putting in her word.” Mace Windu looked over the three of you from where he reclined against the low chair. His gaze had not softened in the decade you had been there, but in recent years you had learned that it was just how his resting face was. There was no hidden animosity there, only calm, analytical judgment.

“Who was it?” 

“Senator Padmé Amidala of Naboo.”

Your throat closed in shock, and you could feel Anakin’s sudden tension through your link--nevermind that his instant rigid stance was palpable on its own. You pushed a bit of calm through your link, subtly reminding him to be careful. The Council Masters couldn’t sense your true emotions through your carefully crafted mental wall of neutrality, but Anakin was an open datapad to them, no matter how much he tried to form that wall himself. 

“Is she alright?” you asked. Nobody had ever said you couldn’t be concerned for the wellbeing of others, especially those of political importance. You hoped they wouldn’t notice that Anakin had been mere seconds from demanding the answer himself; an act that definitely would have raised suspicions. 

If they noticed it was anything more or less than a mere inquiry, however, they didn’t show it. “Yes,” Master Windu replied. “She was unharmed, but a handmaiden acting as her decoy died in the blast.”

“Are we to investigate the incident?” Obi-Wan asked, trying to steer the conversation back to the point. Anakin’s tension dissipated noticeably, quickly replaced by relief.

“No. You three are to be her personal guards until the vote is settled and she returns to Naboo.”

Obi-Wan looked genuinely surprised. “Forgive me, Master Windu, it is not my place to question the Council’s decisions, but…” he took a breath, “are you quite certain that we can afford such an allocation of resources? We scarcely have enough Jedi to manage peacekeeping as it is, and for three Jedi to be assigned to one Senator,” this time, he hesitated. “Would it not be more pertinent to only send one of us?”

Yoda seemed to consider the proposition before shaking his long-eared head. “Impossible, it is. Too intrepid, young Skywalker is. Too vulnerable alone, young (l/n) would seem. You, perhaps, but a Jedi master your padawans need.”

You suppressed a snort. How looking _ too vulnerable alone _ was an argument, you weren’t sure; someone, especially a Jedi, as tall as yourself would be intimidating regardless of gender or species. Even with training, however, you still held somewhat of an unassuming figure; your muscle tone was well hidden, to your dismay. Years of training, and you felt you had nothing to show for it.

Despite Obi-Wan having a point about Jedi reserves, you were secretly relieved. Going on missions alone had never been a preference of yours. It did amuse you that you not being physically imposing enough to ward off assassins, of all things, was their _ only _ good argument against you doing this mission alone.

Mace Windu cut in. “Your protection was specifically requested by the Supreme Chancellor. Senator Amidala reportedly will not cede to anyone else’s protection.”

Obi-Wan sighed, looking utterly resigned. “I see. Very well. When do we leave?”

“Immediately, providing time to collect your robe and lightsaber. Report to the senator’s apartment--we trust you still know where that is. Escort her and ensure she comes to no harm. May the Force be with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: You aren't wearing high heels or platforms as far as boots go. The only reason I predetermined height is for later things in this series! The description I gave on height was a bit wonky and I couldn't figure out how to really clarify it in-text, so you're something like 5'8", and your boots give you a 1, 1.5 inch difference (and are the same kind of style Obi-Wan has, for reference there too).
> 
> High heels just aren't practical unless you're in Jurassic World.


	3. Meeting Padme

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back!
> 
> Anakin is a train wreck, especially when his nerves get the best of him. Obi-Wan is just trying to conduct the business you were assigned to do. You're somehow the mediator and support system.

_ Regret nothing, until it is too late. _

_ Then regret everything. _

_ -Cecil Baldwin, WTNV_

The lift climbed the side of the building, scaling it with well-maintained smoothness. The three of you had all somehow managed to squeeze in together with enough elbow room to be comfortable. Rather, it would have been comfortable if you had all been standing still. Anakin, in his usual place to Obi-Wan’s left, pulled at his sleeves, adjusted his cloak, and checked his hair for the hundredth time since you were given the news. He had been fine leaving the Temple, but the moment the loaned speeder had arrived, his nervous butterflies had fluttered right down your link and were busy secondhand-pummeling the inside of your stomach.

“You seem a little on edge,” Obi-Wan finally remarked, turning to look at your fellow padawan. 

Anakin swallowed, refusing to look him in the eyes as he continued to face the doors. “Not at all.” _ Liar. _He just didn’t want Obi-Wan to know he was anything but calm and indifferent.

“I haven’t felt you this tense since we fell into that nest of Gundarks.” You smirked at the _ we _ in that claim. Obi-Wan was also wrong; if anything, Anakin was more tense now. Those secondhand butterflies certainly had ideas about coming up your throat as something not at all dainty.

“_ You _ fell into that nightmare, Master,” Anakin shot back, finally breaking a grin, “and _ we _rescued you, remember?” You knew he said it in corrective jest, but his nerves were infecting his demeanor, and it was snappier than he meant it to be.

“_ Oh, _yes,” Obi-Wan drawled, a very sarcastic drawl at that. He chuckled, and you knew he was both remembering that incident, and laughing about Anakin’s staunch insistence that he wasn’t nervous when he so very clearly was. You couldn’t help but let out a little laugh of your own at that, grinning to yourself.

Obi-Wan looked to Anakin again, even more amused than before. “You’re sweating,” he commented. “_ Relax. _Take a deep breath.”

You finally broke your silence, leaning forward to see around Obi-Wan. “Anakin,” you said, flashing him the same teasing grin you always did. “Stop _ panakin'. _”

“Very funny,” he retorted, but your teasing brought a genuine smile to his face. He then remembered his butterflies, sending a new swarm through your link. Sobering, he leaned back against the rail and finally relented to your and Obi-Wan’s teasing. “I haven’t seen her in ten years,” he murmured, the smile slowly dropping from his face. 

“It’ll be fine,” you assured him, talking around your master as best you could in the small lift. “Think of it this way. You may not have seen her in ten years, but you still remember her. I doubt she could forget you, especially after everything you did in the Battle of Naboo.” _ We, _ you thought, mentally crediting your and Obi-Wan’s defeat of Darth Maul, but that wasn’t important to the point you were trying to make. “Plus, you’re taller now, and older, and…” 

“And what?” He leaned forward to look around Obi-Wan too, leaving your master awkwardly in the middle of the conversation. 

“Well...you’re more handsome now than when you were, you know, a literal child.”

You felt him reach out through your link at that, trying to discern what that meant coming from you. “You think I’m handsome?"

“We are almost to her floor,” Obi-Wan interjected, prompting you to lean back and take your proper positions. “Attractiveness does not matter when you are a Jedi. One cannot pursue value assigned to their features in such a manner without breaking the Code. What truly matters is your constitution and your morals.”

Obi-Wan had the last word, as the lift drifted to a halt, its doors sliding open seamlessly. You were duly surprised when, instead of being met by a security agent or Padmé herself, you were greeted by two googly eyes on stalks and a big bill-like beak. 

“Obi? Obi!” Jar-Jar Binks yelled, lunging forward to take Obi-Wan’s hand. “Meesa so smilen to seein yousa!” 

“Good to see you again, Jar-Jar.” You caught Obi-Wan’s polite grimace as he was promptly pulled through the hall by the excited Gungan. You exchanged a grin with Anakin, stepping out of the lift to follow at a less jarring pace.

“Senator Padmé!” Jar-Jar let go of Obi-Wan’s hand, walking in first to announce your arrival. “Meesa palos here! Lookie lookie, Senator! Desa Jedi arriven.” 

You and Anakin flanked Obi-Wan, this time reversed, casually striding into the room after him and your loud announcer. Anakin’s nerves shot through your link again, caught between wanting to make himself known and wanting to make himself as unnoticeable as possible now that he was in her presence. You sent reassurance back, and he straightened his posture a little, but didn’t offer to switch to your usual placement. The relief from him was short lived as Jar-Jar moved out of the way, leaving the three of you exposed to the Senator and her company's scrutiny. You bowed alongside Obi-Wan as she turned, striding forward to greet you. From the corner of your eye, you saw that Anakin hadn’t moved, but not out of disrespect. With the feelings you were getting from him in that moment, given the full view of her face, you suspected he had quite forgotten that he was supposed to bow in the first place.

“It’s a great pleasure to see you again, my lady,” Obi-Wan said politely, extending a hand to shake hers. She took it, and you and Anakin moved back to make way for her handmaiden and the eyepatch-bearing captain at her side. At this point, you and Anakin were used to being pushed to the sidelines during discussions as mere padawans.

“It has been far too long, Master Kenobi.” Hearing Obi-Wan’s formal title was always strange to your ears, after having called him Master Obi-Wan, more often Obi-Wan alone, for so long. 

It was then that her eyes flicked over to where the two of you stood, waiting your turn for acknowledgement. For a split second, you thought she had looked right over you, utterly reactionless to your presence. Then recognition sparked in her eyes, and surprise, and a grin as bright as Naboo’s sun lit up her face. 

“Ani?!” Her tone was one of utter disbelief and shock as she looked him up and down. “My goodness, you’ve grown!”

The butterflies that Anakin had so unwittingly shared with you now transformed into a hawk-bat’s soar, rushing through your link in a burst of delight that warmed your heart. He beamed, pure happiness at her recognition, and moved forward. You could see the sudden awkwardness in his posture. Now that he didn’t have to worry about whether she would recognize him, he truly had no idea what to do with himself beyond giving a good first impression.

“So have you.” There that chance went, straight over his head, and you bit the inside of your cheek to keep from bursting into laughter. She had grown, in truth--not in height, and she certainly didn’t look old, but she was clearly more mature and adult than her already-mature self had been when you had last met. Still, that wasn’t what she probably wanted to hear, and by the sudden panic you sensed from Anakin, that was not what he had intended to say at all.

“Grown more beautiful, I mean.” A quick save, but she stared at him as if she didn’t know what to do with that compliment. 

“Well, for a senator.” His quick save dashed again in his stumbling panic, and there had been nothing you could do to intervene. You glanced to Obi-Wan, barely containing your laughter and grin, and he rolled his eyes, looking away from the train wreck that was Anakin in vaguely amused exasperation. You were certain he’d have found it funnier, if such compliments weren’t bending the rules of the Jedi Code.

Despite his utter disaster of an attempt to smoothly compliment her, she beamed at him warmly. It was clear that she was still trying to come to terms with how different he looked now. “Ani, you’ll always be that little boy I knew on Tatooine.” _ Ouch. At least she remembered him somehow. _

Her gaze turned from him to you. She stared blankly at you for a moment, the wheels in her head turning, clearly trying to figure out how she knew you, searching your face for clues. Then her sights landed on your hair, your padawan braid and the same main braid you had donned for the past decade, albeit significantly longer now, and the same spark of recognition that she had given Anakin shone for you. “And (y/n), why, you’re so tall now! I almost didn’t recognize you. I see you still wear that braid, too.”

“Yes, thank you again for showing me how to do it. It’s good to see you again, Padmé.” Instinctively you wanted to offer her a hug, but per your training, you only gave a formalized smile. “You look well.”

“As do you. I see the rumors are true.”

Your eyebrow raised on its own; you hadn't realized you were rumor-worthy. “Rumors?”

Jar-Jar took the opportunity to butt in. “Yesa, yous beauty known throughout da galaxy. Some sayen dat yousa da most beautiful Jedi in da Jedi Orderen!”

Your ears burned and you froze, entirely caught off-guard. In all your missions and travels, you had heard no such rumors; but then, you hadn’t spent time gossiping either. “I think those rumors are a little unfounded--”

“Nonsense. You grew up splendidly. Both of you did.” She beamed at you, then Anakin, before turning and heading for the seating area.

Obi-Wan stepped forward, leading you to follow her. Clearing his throat slightly, he dragged the conversation back into business territory and out of reunion chatter. “Our presence will be invisible, my lady, I can assure you.”

The man with the eyepatch finally deigned to speak, following just behind you and Jar-Jar. He remained standing as the rest of you took a seat on the plush couches. “I am Captain Typho of Her Majesty’s security service,” he introduced himself. “Queen Jamillia has been informed of your assignment. I am grateful you are here, Master Kenobi.” _ Back to being the shadows of your master. _Captain Typho continued. “The situation is more dangerous than the senator will admit.”

That was Padmé alright. Even during the Battle of Naboo, she had fought beside her soldiers instead of running to hide. Your eyes flicked to her, amused, and you caught the very tail end of a small, if dignified, eye roll. “I don’t need more security,” she retorted, keeping her voice steady and reasonable. “I need answers. I want to know who is trying to kill me.”

Obi-Wan leaned forward, as if they were negotiating. “We are here to protect you, senator. Not to start an investigation.” 

A blip of hesitation, then defiance, came through your link as Anakin leaned forward as well. “We _ will _ find out who is trying to kill you, Padmé. I promise.”

You turned to look at him fully, somewhat startled by his claim. He could be defiant of orders and of Obi-Wan, but normally it was masked as actions and arrogance. The fact that he had made it verbal, and a promise, was strange even for him. Past Anakin, you saw your master turn to give him the same stunned look, though his held more irritation at his sudden defiance.

“We will not exceed our mandate, my young padawan learner.” You knew as well as Anakin that it was a well-veiled attempt to remind him of his place.

“I meant that in the interest of protecting her, Master.” The tension in his voice was palpable, and you could sense his rising frustration at Obi-Wan. 

“We will not go through this exercise again, Anakin, and you will pay mind to my lead,” Obi-Wan said sternly. You exchanged a look with Padmé; her, silently asking if this was normal, you, wordlessly assuring her that it was a fairly regular occurrence. Expressions, however, could not quite convey that this was a new level of open defiance.

“Why?” That word drew your sights back onto the pair, where Anakin had begun to fiercely stare down Obi-Wan. Across the seating arrangement, you heard Jar-Jar gulp.

“What?”

Anakin’s patience with Obi-Wan finally wore thin. “Why do you think we were assigned to her, if not to find the killer? Protection is a job for local security, not _ Jedi. _ It’s overkill, Master. Investigation is implied in our mandate.” 

You were inclined to agree, to an extent. While the Supreme Chancellor had insisted on the presence of Jedi to protect Padmé, and Padmé having apparently requested Obi-Wan, and the Council insisting you all go together, having three Jedi merely playing bodyguard with no other orders when Jedi were scarce was...well, overkill. You sent a pulse of reassurance to Anakin, enough to let him know he wasn’t alone in his opinion, but hopefully not so much that it would incite him to fight Obi-Wan further. 

Obi-Wan, on the other hand, did not seem to think that this was the case at all, despite having questioned the orders himself. “We will do _ exactly _ as the council has instructed,” he replied, just as stern as before. A warning tone slipped into his voice. “And you will learn your place, _ young one. _”

You suppressed a snort. Sometimes you wondered if he forgot that he took you on when he was barely more than a padawan himself. Anakin gave Obi-Wan a look that promised later discussion, but let Obi-Wan have the last word. You leaned slightly, pressing your arm into his to help him calm some as you spoke up. 

“We could always do both.” Obi-Wan’s stern glare turned to you, ready for you to double up on the defiant padawan count for the day. “We can protect her, just as the Council said to, but there will be times when there isn’t much to do--or worse, there will be more attempts on her life, the evidence of which may be more pertinent to follow immediately over waiting for Council decision. Protect, but investigate if and when necessary. I believe at least that much is implied in our mandate.”

Anakin looked to Obi-Wan as if to say, _ what she said, _ and your Master’s glare softened a little, finally seeming to see the reason balance out between your arguments. “That is a strong implication, (y/n), but perhaps you both have a point. We will discuss it later.”

Padmé shifted, drawing back your attention as she spoke. By the look on her face, she was taking it upon herself to diffuse the situation. “Perhaps with merely your presence, the mystery surrounding this threat will be revealed.” With that, the room’s tensions seemed to settle as much as they would.

She stood suddenly, followed closely by her handmaiden and Jar-Jar. The three of you followed suit. “Now, if you will excuse me, I will retire.” Padmé nodded to the three of you in turn before heading towards her bedroom, a grateful smile barely peeking through the worry on her face.

“I know _ I _ will feel better having you here,” Captain Typho commented, beckoning Obi-Wan to follow. “I will have an officer stationed on every floor, and I’ll be in the control center downstairs.” You started to follow, but he wandered to another area of the room, explaining all the details of the security already in place to Obi-Wan without acknowledging you at all. Obi-Wan would fill you both in this evening, in any case, so your presence wasn’t crucial.

Anakin had remained rooted to the spot, gazing after Padmé, and you wandered back to join him. Jar-Jar, still clad in formal politician wear that looked rather strange on him, wandered back over with a smile that offered polite conversation. It was certainly a change from his old ultra-clumsy self, and you wondered if Padmé had offered him schooling in the finer arts of standing as a political representative.

“Mesa busten wit happiness seein yousa again,” he said politely, grinning at the both of you. You gave him the standard head incline too, silently showing that the feeling was mutual. Anakin, however, didn’t take his eyes off the hall Padmé had vanished into.

“She hardly even recognized me, Jar-Jar. I’ve thought about her every day since we parted, and…” you sensed his disappointment and sadness, “she’s forgotten me completely.”

“I think she was just surprised, is all,” you pointed out. “We’ve changed a lot more than she has in ten years. She probably didn’t know how to react. That, or she didn’t react how she wanted to because we’re Jedi.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

You gave him your signature grin, though he looked to be in no mood for joking. “Remember our conversation on the way up?”

He looked away, thinking for a moment. “Oh. The handsome thing.”

You nodded. “Now, if you were in her shoes and she in yours--bear with me--that would mean that you’d be shocked by how beautiful and grown up she is now after thinking of her as a _child_ for ten years. Then you consider that this is a professional assignment, we’re Jedi who aren’t supposed to get too friendly with others, and the fact that she doesn’t know how you feel about her now, and maybe not quite how she feels about you now…” you left the sentence hanging, knowing that he didn’t need the clarification to know what you meant.

“That’s a lot to consider. Too much, really. Girls are complicated.”

“Just because Jedi are allowed the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn’t mean others have such confines,” you laughed, finally drawing a small smile from him. “She had a life those ten years too, Ani, and probably far more going on to take her mind off you than you had to take your mind off her. She may not have forgotten us, but she probably didn't have time to wonder about how we grew up either.”

He nodded, sighing. “I suppose so. You’d think she’d be happy to see us after so long.”

Jar-Jar finally nudged into the conversation he’d been invited into. “She’sa happy,” the Gungan assured him. “Happier den mesa seein her in a long-o time.”

Anakin gave him a smile--one of those tight-lipped ones--but it faded the minute he saw Obi-Wan approaching, evidently finished talking with the Captain for the time being. 

“You’re focusing on the negative, Anakin.” Evidently, he had been eavesdropping. “Be mindful of your thoughts. She was pleased to see us.” Any sign of sternness that he had previously had was gone, and he seemed to be offering genuine reassurance.

“Now, let’s go check security. I will fill you in on Captain Typho’s measures while we walk.” 


	4. Padme's Plan, Pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which uneventful guarding turns out to be a much more boring affair than you thought it would be.

“How long do you think he'll be gone?”

Anakin shrugged, pacing another circuit around the room. Obi-Wan had left with Captain Typho to see the full extent of security measures in place, and improve where he could. You had both been left in charge of Padmé in his absence. “Probably for a while. If he treats them anything like he does us, he’ll nitpick every last detail until it’s perfect.”

“He’s not _ that _ bad,” you laughed, perching on the back of one of the sofas. “The other Jedi are worse, especially the older ones. Obi-Wan at least leaves room for basic human error.”

“That is true.” 

The room fell silent again. After Jar-Jar had taken his incessant chatter elsewhere and Obi-Wan had finished pointing out all the security measures in the apartment, the atmosphere had been eerily quiet. Padmé had not emerged since she had excused herself, so you and Anakin sat guard in the main room by yourselves--you, literally sitting, slightly swinging your legs, while Anakin mindlessly paced because his legs had fallen asleep.

“This is going to be a very boring night if this is all we’re doing. The vote isn’t for what, a day or two?”

“I think it might be three.”

“That makes three days and possibly four nights if the Council wants us to take her home. If we don’t investigate something or another, related to the attacks or not, I might get ship fever.”

Anakin grinned at you. “I think you’re being dramatic.”

You took your lightsaber off your hip, twirling it in your hand. “No, I really think I might! The silence might get to me and corrode my sanity.”

“Our _ mandate _ only says we have to protect her. It doesn’t say we have to do it silently.” Anakin finally paused in his pacing, sitting on the edge of the little coffee table. 

“Maybe not,” you agreed. “But Obi-Wan isn’t much for idle chatter, and I don’t think he’d let us get away with too much chatter with other people.” You sat up straight, mimicking Obi-Wan’s voice. “_It could impede our assignment. _”

At least that got a smile from him. “Hmmm. You might have a point there.” 

Silence again. It wasn’t that you and Anakin didn’t have anything to talk about; you were on alert for any suspicious activity, and for your master’s return. The _ thwip-pat _ of your lightsaber spinning in midair and landing in your hand finally annoyed you enough to stop. You flipped it in your hand, pointing the dangerous end down and away from your legs, and popped off the very end of the saber. It was one of the few parts on it that you could remove without use of the Force, the others being interchangeable carrying accessories. You pulled out the circuit slightly, inspecting it for issues. The blade of your saber hadn’t been nearly as strong as usual. You finally found the culprit, focusing the Force to a tiny point of influence as you tightly wrapped the wire end around the connection a few times in the tiny space. The circuit went back inside and the bottom went back on. Anakin slid back on the table slightly to give you room, and you pressed the button. The familiar stream of violet light shot out of the end with a loud _ bzsht _, strong as ever and as weightless as it had always been.

“Nice job,” Anakin complimented. Your saber had been the target of his jokes since you dropped it on your way out of the Aniron negotiations, disrupting that wire inside. “That’ll definitely scare off ass-”

“What’s going on? Has there been another attack?” Padmé swept into the room, scanning the apartment for threats as she moved, posture taut and ready to challenge any danger. Her eyes landed on your lightsaber’s horizontal line of light, then flitted between you, looking for explanation. Behind her, her handmaiden emerged from the hall slowly; you suspected she too had been tasked with protecting Padmé, but had been told to stay put by the senator herself.

"assins," Anakin finished, distracted by her sudden appearance. 

“No, I just repaired my lightsaber. I wanted to make sure it was working appropriately for our assignment.” You flashed her a smile that you hoped was reassuring. Her posture relaxed, in any case, and she came forward more slowly this time. Her fancy dress and cape had been replaced with pajamas; yet the nightdress was no less fancy, being an embroidered silk. Her hair had been let down from one of her elaborate styles as well, showing off the full glory of her wavy brown locks. 

“I see. I appreciate your initiative.” She delicately took a seat on one of the sofas and smiled politely at Anakin; he offered her a shy grin in return, still having a hard time coping in her presence. “Has there been any sign of the attacker?”

“None,” Anakin answered. “It’s been quiet since everyone cleared out.”

“Do you really think they’ll try something again so soon?” You asked her, deactivating your lightsaber. “After this morning, they might lie low so as not to get caught.”

“_Or _, they’ll try again because they want to make sure she doesn’t put in her vote.” Anakin sat on the arm of the couch, and you shifted to better look at Padmé. “Either way, I’m here to protect you.”

“As am I,” you added. “And Obi-Wan. You won’t come to any harm if we have any say in the matter.”

Padmé gave you both a grateful nod. “Thank you. I appreciate your protection.” She chewed her lip thoughtfully for a moment. “Perhaps we could do something to draw out the attacker, regardless of what their plans are.”

“What do you have in mind?” 

Padmé described her plan in precise detail. It was clear that she had thought about it at length after she had left the room; everything was accounted for, and nothing was backtracked to. It was a very solid plan, simply a matter of whether it would work or not.


	5. Padme's Plan, Pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens when two Padawans and a Senator are left alone for a few hours?
> 
> Devious planning, that's what.
> 
> You're pretty sure that you're only going along with this purely to see what happens.  
And maybe because it's a lot less boring than just sitting around and waiting for something to happen.

“What do you think Obi-Wan will do when he comes back and finds out that we agreed to use Padmé as bait?”

“Probably scold us and forbid us from ever guarding her alone again.” Anakin shifted to get better footing, holding your knees in a death-grip. “Just concentrate on what you’re doing, please.”

“I’m going, I’m going.” You pulled the drawstring tight, covering the camera with one of Padmé’s fancy little jewelry bags. It was the only good covering that any of you had come up with that you had on hand. “Got it. Just one more and we’ll be done.”

Anakin carefully backed away from the corner, painstakingly balancing you on his shoulders. The walls of Padmé’s apartment were aesthetically high, and the cameras had been placed unapologetically out of reach. Anakin and you had both given it your best shot Force-jumping at them to hook a baggie on top, and had tried for all of five minutes to guide the baggie over the camera by floating it with the Force, but neither of those methods proved to be as efficient as manually shoving the bag on the camera’s eye. You wobbled slightly with Anakin’s long steps, unaccustomed to his gait; even collaborating through your link didn’t quite prepare you for the ordeal of sitting on his shoulders. Padmé stepped forward, having made sure to stay well out of your path, and handed you the last bag as Anakin closed into the last corner, trying to get you as close to the camera as possible.

“I’m going to have to stand on your shoulders.” The camera looked down at you disdainfully from out of reach, if such a glassy-eyed inanimate piece of technology could be disdainful.

“Sure. Just be careful.” Anakin released his grip on your legs, moving his hands to your ankles. “Ready?”

“Now!” 

The link coordinated your efforts, you shoving up off his shoulders with a minor application of the Force, Anakin lifting you by your ankles to place your feet where your thighs had been. You wobbled dangerously, nearly falling for all the help he tried to give by holding you in place. Padmé put her hands up as if she were going to help balance you, but she was far too short to reach anything more than Anakin already could. In a burst of desperation, you shoved out a bit of Force deflection at the surrounding walls, effectively stabilizing you in a Force-pressure sandwich. The little blue and gold bag swallowed the camera whole, and the drawstring kept it from sliding back off.

“Got it!”

_ “What are you three doing in here?!” _The three of you jumped, staring in wide-eyed startlement at the doorway, and the largely concerned Captain Typho it contained. Had it not been for the Force holding you up from all sides, you surely would have fallen, and it would not have been graceful in the least. “Those are necessary for monitoring the safety of the senator!”

“It was my idea,” Padmé interjected, stepping between your and Anakin’s odd human tower and the captain. “If there is the illusion that I am not well-protected, it might lure the attacker out, and we will be able to find out who they are, and who sent them.” She looked behind the captain. “Where is Obi-Wan?”

“Master Kenobi is downstairs ensuring that all the windows are properly sealed.” A muscle feathered in the captain’s jaw, and you weren't sure who it was meant for. “If that is what you wish to do, I cannot stop you. What are your countermeasures?”

“R2-D2 will be.” 

“The Cosmo Droid?”

“Yes. I will set him to alert you and the Jedi of danger. He will be my security in place of the cameras, and will be less obvious as one than they are.” She put a hand on the captain’s shoulder. “I’ll be fine, Gregar. Trust me.”

Captain Typho nodded in understanding. “I now see what Captain Panaka meant about your tenacity.” Your ears perked up at that. You recognized Captain Panaka's name, and you smiled remembering his patience and kindness. “My uncle always said you would die with your people before you let them die for you. You are an unusual leader, my lady.” He gave one more look around the room, pausing on the Padawan tower in the corner and giving you both a confused up and down. “Please be careful, and safe. We will be nearby if _ anything _ goes wrong.”

“Thank you, Captain. I will let you know if we need anything--or R2 will.” The captain turned to leave, but she paused him with a hand on his elbow. “Please don’t mention this to Master Kenobi. We will fill him in when he returns.” Captain Typho tipped his hat, gave her a knowing smile, and left you three to your devices.

Realizing that you had both frozen in surprise, fully expecting the intrusion to be Obi-Wan, Anakin let go of your ankles. You released the Force pressure and jumped off his shoulders, landing cleanly in front of him. A murmur of an exchange drifted from near the elevator, and Padmé’s handmaiden walked in, closely followed by R2-D2. The little droid beeped and whistled as he rolled along, looking around the apartment and at its other three occupants. When his little camera focused on you two, his whistle turned shrill, and he zoomed forward to say hello.

“R2!” You exclaimed, stepping forward and leaning down to greet him. “It’s been a long time! You remember us, don’t you? The kids from Tatooine?”

Anakin knelt beside you, looking over the droid's state. The droid was much cleaner than he had been after his exploits on the sand dune you called home. A pang of sadness ran through the pit of your stomach at the memory; you not only missed Shmi, but you also missed your incomplete protocol droid. Anakin sent comfort back, the bloom of warmth in your chest easing the cold of the sadness. R2 beeped at the two of you curiously, studying your faces for a minute, then turned his head dome slightly. A little blue hologram flickered out, a perfect representation of you and Anakin, plus Padmé, working on a disgruntled C-3PO. The tiny-sized complaints from the droid of being unable to see made you laugh a little, your grin making your cheeks ache.

“Now all that’s left to do is wait,” Padmé said, grinning down at the scene before her. “If you will excuse me, it is getting late, and I must be in the Senate Dome early tomorrow. Thank you for your help.” She gave you both one last smile before heading back to her bedroom.

“R2, you’re her security system now. Go make sure she stays safe.” You stood, giving the droid a little nudge in the direction Padmé had gone. R2 offered you a couple of confirming beeps, then zoomed after her, getting through the door just before it closed. 

You slumped on the couch, and Anakin flopped down beside you. In the time it took to set up Padmé’s plan, the sky had gone dark with night, and the lights of Coruscant shone in a full twinkling galaxy, replacing the one far above it with sheer light pollution. You sat in silence for a moment, both resting your eyes and taking the moment to relax before the long night of vigil ahead. The relief was short lived, as the elevator offered a small informative _ ding, _indicating that someone else was coming up. You shared a look; you could sense Obi-Wan’s approaching presence, and you vaguely wondered if this was how prey animals felt when they realized a predator’s killing blow would be inevitable.

“This is going to be an interesting conversation.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I just love supernatural-power dynamics that are inconsistent with when they work. Like your link. Can it help you fight in such perfect harmony that you are simply organized destruction when you fight together? Yes. Can it help you adjust to the mediocre affair of the other person's longer steps being inconvenient when you need to balance with them? Apparently not!


	6. Calm Before The Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite all the background attacks, this mission has been quiet so far.  
Good things never last, do they?  
In which we get a glimpse into the hidden tensions of your little group.

Obi-Wan strode into the room the moment the shiny elevator door slid away, taking off his cloak and bundling it into a neatly folded mass as he walked. You and Anakin stood to meet him, standing at attention.

“Captain Typho has more than enough men downstairs. No assassin would try that way,” he began, dropping the cloak onto a nearby chair. He casually scanned the room as he walked, ensuring the pair of you had been vigilant enough not to miss an obvious threat. “Has there been any activity up here?”

“None.”

Anakin nodded his agreement. “Quiet as a tomb.”

You peeked at Anakin from the edge of your vision and caught him looking back, that familiar glimmer in his eyes standing out from his otherwise serious expression. Death puns while guarding against assassins; he certainly thought he was funny. Your mirth-filled eyes scrunched ever so slightly, offering him the ghost of a smirk.

Obi-Wan finished his scan of the room, finally settling his attention back on the pair of you. The evidence of your humorous exchange vanished instantly as you both put on your serious Jedi expressions. He pulled a new device from the inner pocket of his tunic, presumably something Captain Typho had offered him to keep in touch, glancing at the screen before casually looking over its build. “Very funny, Anakin. Let’s hope it stays that way.”

An entirely non-subtle series of slightly muffled beeps came down the hall from Padmé’s room. You glanced at Anakin, only to find him looking back with the same wide-eyed expression. He took a breath, quickly finding a topic of conversation to steer attention away from the beeping. “I don’t like just waiting for something to happen to her.” 

“It’s better to be on our guard and have nothing happen than to be unprepared and have her get hurt,” you reasoned, brushing his elbow lightly. You spoke a little louder than usual, trying to stall the inevitable of Obi-Wan discovering what you had done in his absence.

“She’s right, Anakin.” Before you could say anything else, more beeping echoed down the hall even louder than before, prompting you to share a sideways, primarily mental grimace with Anakin. Obi-Wan finally broke his gaze from the device in his hands, looking in the direction of the sound. His brow furrowed. “What’s going on?” You glanced at Anakin, sharing a hesitant look, and Obi-Wan’s expression became stern. “Anakin, (y/n)?”

“Um...well, she covered the cameras,” Anakin said hesitantly.

“She asked us to help her because she couldn’t get them herself,” you added. “I don’t think she liked us watching her all that much.” The sarcastic remark was made in jest, but a jolt of balking shot through you; Anakin, silently begging you to say no more while you were both ahead. 

Despite the attempt at humor, Obi-Wan’s eyes went wide. He shoved the device back in its pocket, stepping around you to make a beeline for the Senator’s room. “What is she _thinking?_” 

You shot surety through your link as you turned, watching your master go. “She programmed R2-D2 to warn us if there’s an intruder,” you said quickly, hoping to catch him before he stormed in and scared a sleeping Padmé awake. “Her thinking was that the cameras were too obvious of security, and that something more low-key would draw out any potential attacker tonight.” 

Obi-Wan turned to look at you both. Anakin chimed in. “Captain Typho said it was alright.”

“There are many other ways to kill a senator,” Obi-Wan said matter-of-factly, but the tension left his shoulders. “You should have consulted me before taking such measures.”

“I know, we’re sorry." You inclined your head in remorseful respect. Anakin followed suit. You both knew you didn’t truly regret a minute of it. 

“We also want to catch this assassin at some point, don’t we?” Anakin added cautiously, looking back up to Obi-Wan’s face. 

“Even though the Council only gave us orders to protect her, the three of us thought it would be easier to draw the attacker out now than if we wait until after the vote to do so,” you put in.

“You’re using her as bait?” You were shocked to hear a level of intrigue in his tone. He crossed his arms, not as if he were mad, but as if he were interested and ready to listen to your ideas.

“It was her idea,” Anakin said. By the look on _ his _face, you knew he was expecting the take the blame if your master considered it a bad idea. You countered his nervous flutters in your stomach with a return of boulder-steady reassurance. He stood up a little straighter. “Don’t worry, no harm will come to her. I can sense everything going on in that room, and Captain Typho’s men up here are on higher alert than usual.”

“Trust us, we thought everything through and have it handled,” you finished. 

Obi-Wan looked between the two of you, clearly trying to decide whether or not he was upset at your disobedience or impressed by your initiative. He glanced to Padmé’s door, but when he turned around, his gaze landed on Anakin. “It’s too risky,” he decided. “Besides, your senses aren’t that attuned, my young apprentice. Neither of yours are.”

You and Anakin shared a look. Perhaps neither of you could pinpoint perfectly alone, but utilizing your link, your combined Force strength gave you a clear impression of the goings on in Padmé’s quarters; namely, a droid on standby and a sleeping senator. The only thing inhibiting it was Obi-Wan’s judgment impeding your ability to focus. Anakin gave Obi-Wan an annoyed glare--not that he saw it, having turned to look at Padmé’s door again. “And yours are?”

Obi-Wan slowly turned to face you, a hint of a smile in his eyes and face. “Possibly.”

“Whether or not any of us can fully sense the goings on in her room, I think we can all be assured that if anything does happen, one of us is bound to hear or sense it, and she will have three Jedi as her first line of defense,” you said, breaking the competitive tension between Anakin and Obi-Wan. You knew Obi-Wan was merely amusing himself by teasing Anakin, but the brewing irritation you sensed from your fellow padawan was not the intended result. Rather, you hoped it wasn't.

“Three Jedi and the resident security detail had better be enough to defend her,” Anakin grumbled, stalking over to the window. The glass slid up to admit him to the balcony, where the night-dark sky and bright city lay in full view.

“I know we’re not supposed to investigate, technically, but if the attacker is drawn out…the Council wouldn’t blame us for doing so, would they?” You watched Obi-Wan carefully, still unsure of whether you had done well, or were in trouble for openly defying orders.

“No, they would not. If the attacker chooses to strike, it would only be sensible to investigate, as it would provide an opportune chance to get to the bottom of this.” Obi-Wan sighed and rubbed his forehead, an action so often repeated that you were certain it would have given him early wrinkles by now. “(Y/n), what you and Anakin did was not responsible. However, I am proud of your initiative, and grateful that you consulted Captain Typho before instating these measures, if not me.” He rested a hand on your shoulder. “You both have done well this evening.” 

“Thank you.” You hoped that Anakin could hear, given that the praise was meant for him as well. Obi-Wan’s hand slid from your shoulder and he turned to walk toward Anakin, but not before offering you a tight smile. You followed as he approached the balcony, where Anakin rested his elbows on the railing, scanning the city below like a hawk-bat.

“You look tired,” Obi-Wan commented, prompting Anakin to turn around.

“I don’t sleep well anymore. Neither of us do.” He leaned against the railing in an attempt to look casual, but you could see the tension over Obi-Wan’s commentary in his shoulders and spine. No matter how well Obi-Wan meant in his corrections and teasings, it always felt like nitpicking, mostly due to the fact that his humor was usually as dry as Tatooine's surface. You understood Anakin's irritation; there had been a fair few times you’d taken him too seriously during unexpected spunky moments, leaving you feeling like no matter what you did, your judgement was consistently bad and your strengths inferior in every way. Anakin had never found Obi-Wan’s joking style humorous the way you had learned to.

Obi-Wan glanced between you, taking stock of your faces. Dark circles and faint bloody streaks adorned Anakin’s eyes, trophies of many hours of lost sleep, giving him a somewhat more haggard appearance than normal. The faint shadow beneath your eyes was highly misleading; you’d lost as much sleep as him, but you’d always needed less. The older Jedi nodded solemnly. “Because of your mother?”

A muscle feathered in Anakin’s jaw as the conversation turned uncomfortable, and he nodded stiffly. “I don’t know why we keep dreaming of her,” he said tightly. Dreaming was an understatement. You had both shared the nightmares, endless nights of Shmi screaming in pain, hurt by some unseen being. They had plagued you for only a few weeks, but any amount of time was too much.

Obi-Wan looked away, collecting his thoughts as he meandered closer. “Dreams pass in time.”

“They don’t feel like _ dreams, _ Obi-Wan,” you sighed, exasperated. You were practically on the verge of pleading at this point. “Are you certain we can’t ensure she is coming to no harm after this assignment? It wouldn’t take long to go check.” 

“I told you when you first brought this to me, (y/n), and I will not tell you again. Jedi are not allowed attachments for a reason. Shmi is likely perfectly fine at home. These dreams will pass.” He said it with such certainty that you almost believed him, but you knew that neither you nor Anakin felt that was true in your hearts. “You may not go check on her. You have other responsibilities that take precedence, as a Jedi.”

"I thought our job was to protect people, not look the other way when they could be in danger."

"Our job is to protect, yes, but we cannot protect everyone individually. Sometimes we must simply protect those who will protect many more as a result, and make our peace with the rest. Do you understand?" 

“Yes, Master Kenobi.” You saw Obi-Wan flinch a little at his formal title coming from you. You straightened your back, trying to brush off your frustration at his staunch dismissal. Standing in his stern--now, more stricken--gaze, with Anakin filtering sympathetic comfort as soothing as rubbing circles on your back down your link, didn’t help your case. “If you will excuse me, I should probably ensure the apartment entrances are still secure. As our _ mandate _ says we should.”

“(Y/n),” Obi-Wan began, but you stepped past him as if he were an inconveniently placed ottoman, heading back into the apartment. You didn’t need to apologize to Anakin; your link told you that he was grateful for your attempt to make your master see reason, and he understood why you were taking a moment.

Around the corner, you took several deep breaths, composing yourself. Anakin's offered comfort continued to filter into your emotions, helping to calm the tumultuous sea of irritation in the pit of your stomach. You forced yourself to consciously check each potential entry point, peeking into Padmé’s room first, before making your rounds through the apartment. Obi-Wan and Anakin were still talking, but the apartment was just large enough that their voices were muffled; not that you were paying attention anyhow. Shoving your frustration down until it was a weak ember in the pit of your stomach, incapable of influencing your attitude, proved difficult when it only angered you the more you thought about it, even with Anakin's help. 

Somehow, by the time you reached the elevator doors, you had successfully managed to do so, the crashing waves of emotion having been calmed into a lapping lake. You tuned into the conversation now going on in the main room--a debate about the economics of politics and the trustworthiness of politicians, specifically Chancellor Palpatine, by the sounds of it. You had half a mind to put your two cents worth in. Over the years, you’d grown to trust the Chancellor as much as Anakin. You had to admit, it was nice to have someone older than you who believed in you, what you could become, and made it known, rather than nitpicking your faults and reminding you of your weaknesses to keep you humble, as many of the elder Jedi were fond of doing. _ Character and personal betterment, it builds, _ Yoda had once told you, when you asked him why none of the older Jedi seemed to have any faith in the younger generations. You decided against that two cents worth when the idea of making a casual comment to Obi-Wan inspired a spark of irritation in your chest from that shoved down ember.

An instinctive panic that overrode any residual anger or frustration you might have had hit you in the stomach. “Anakin, Padmé!” You yelled, whirling. You unhooked your lightsaber as you bolted through the main room, heading straight for the senator’s chamber. Anakin was on your heels with his own saber drawn the moment you said his name.

“I sense it too!” Obi-Wan assured you, drawing his own lightsaber as he followed suit. 

The automatic doors slid back quickly as the three of you raced around the corner, scanning the room for person shapes. Your eyes locked onto a pair of pale, worm-like creatures, _kouhuns_, and you knew Anakin saw them too. You launched yourselves at the bed, igniting your lightsabers as you flew through the air, coordinating your efforts. A pair of loud _ bzsht _ s and a swing of your lightsabers later, and the toxic_ kouhuns_ were halved on the floor, their bodies smoking where they landed across the room.

Padmé bolted upright with a gasp, startled by the noise, her eyes darting around the room as she took stock of the scene; you and Anakin awkwardly kneeling on her bed, lightsabers drawn and active, the dead _kouhuns_, Obi-Wan in the doorway, and R2 beeping frantically in the background, finally alerting everyone to danger. 

“Are you alright?” 

Her eyes finally focused on you, and she allowed herself to blink the bleariness from them. “Yes.”

You followed her gaze back to your master, ready to be told your next course of action, but your eyes only made contact with his moving silhouette as he raced across the room, launching himself bodily through the window with a deafening shatter of glass.

“Obi-Wan!" you yelled, but he was already long gone. Beyond the window, you saw the Jedi clinging to a small drone, zipping and bobbing through the air. "Oh, by the Force,” you muttered, clambering off Padmé’s bed. 

Anakin jumped from the bed as well, you both having the same idea, and ran for the door. “Stay here!”

“As if!” Padmé gave you a reassuring nod that she was okay, just shaken, and you took off running after him. 

Captain Typho and his security detail were nearly flattened by you as they rounded the corner. “Captain, make sure she’s safe, we’ll be back,” you ordered as you sped past. You caught his nod from the corner of your eye before he was out of view. You Force-pressed the elevator button as you raced through the main room behind Anakin. 

The ding of the elevator’s acknowledgement of the button prompted him to glance over his shoulder. “I’ll be fine, she needs protection!” The elevator door rolled open, admitting you both without either of you needing to slow down. Your fingers mashed the Garage button at the same time, and Anakin hammered the door close button. It responded at an almost painful speed.

“They won’t try anything else here,” you countered. “Obi-Wan is the one flying through Coruscant traffic with nothing but a drone that can barely hold his weight. He's the one who needs our help right now.” You took a deep breath, letting your adrenaline spread through your body in preparation for the impending chase. “You know we work better together. This could be the last lead we get on this attacker. We can’t risk them getting away.”

Anakin nodded and his expression softened, realizing he hadn’t thought any of that through in the haze of his panic. “You’re...you're right. I’m sorry.” He took a breath, steeling himself as the elevator plummeted down the building to the landing platforms, and he let his posture relax ever so slightly. “What do you think we should do?” 

“Take the first decent speeder we see and find Obi-Wan before he gets himself killed?”

He nodded appreciatively. “Agreed. Good plan.” You both took a look at the panel that displayed the floor you were on, and immediately tensed, preparing to enact your vague plan the second you were able to. “Let’s do this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Apologies for this being late! Life happened, as did the start of spring semester! Please enjoy, and many thanks to everyone who has offered their compliments and support in the comments! I deeply appreciate every single one of them!!


	7. Saving Obi-Wan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you're clinging to a droid miles in the air and zooming towards certain death on a city-planet, who do you call? Why, the two best pilots in the galaxy! 
> 
> Title says it all, really.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this scene all together, so the next few updates should be fairly regular! 12-hour updates, if I can hold off that long, so tune in around 2:15pm PST for the next chapter!

The elevator stopped moving, and you barely gave the door a chance to slide away before you bolted from inside like a pair of Eopies on a racetrack. You both scanned the landing garage and the twin lines of speeders for a good one as you ran, your link facilitating a conversation on their merits faster than talking ever could; which ones looked the fastest, the ones of those whose shells provided for stability control, the ones with enough seats. Simultaneously, your eyes landed on a yellow two-seater that checked all the boxes but the last, and as you both jumped the doors to sit inside, you mentally assured Anakin that you’d figure your seating out to include Obi-Wan once you were in the air. It was an argument he didn’t dispute, given your time constraints. Together, you pushed a bolt of Force energy into its system, and the speeder roared to life, the sound and design of its engine reminding you fondly of your racing days. The speeder lurched backwards as Anakin reversed, pulling it out of parking, and you braced as he put it into gear, launching you forwards at full speed and directly into the chaotic traffic of Coruscant.

You scanned the skies for Obi-Wan, desperately searching for his tiny person form against the backdrop of thousands of speeders and small starships, as well as the millions of bright lights and distracting, blinding advertisement billboards. Part of you wondered if he had been thrown from the drone, or hit by a speeder, but your instincts told you he was alive and in need of aid. A petty thought ran through your brain, one that suggested you take his advice about protecting and saving those in need to an extreme, but you pushed it away; Obi-Wan could believe that all he wanted, but that attitude just wasn’t in your nature. 

“This is going to be impossible,” Anakin yelled. “We’ll never see him.”

“Let’s just hope we see him before we hit him,” you yelled back. The deafening sounds of echoing speeder noise made it nearly impossible to hear anything else. “Or before someone else does.” 

“I bet he’ll be on a rooftop somewhere, and we’ll pass him, and he’ll lecture us on being unobservant when we do find him.” You knew Anakin was joking, but it was also just a little too true.

“I bet--” you cut your sentence short, squinting ahead. In the distance, other speeders were swerving drastically out of line, the drivers of which looked shocked at best, and utterly furious at worst. “Up there, look!”

Anakin did, and seeing the same thing, he pushed the speeder harder, causing you to shoot forward. On your approach, the tiny tunic-clad humanoid form that was Obi-Wan came into view several stories above you, still desperately clinging onto the drone. It swung a left corner, nearly flinging him off with the sharpness of the turn. Anakin followed suit, cutting the corner in a sharp line to try to get ahead. You kept your eyes on Obi-Wan while Anakin kept his on the surrounding traffic, navigating the chaos together in the safest manner of recklessness you could manage. A bright light streaked through the traffic towards the drone, and you only realized it was a blaster bolt when the drone exploded in Obi-Wan’s hands. 

“Ani!” you yelped, but you knew he already knew. He’d had eyes on the drone through you, after all. As he made adjustments to your position and raced forward, determined to catch your free-falling master before the pavement below did, your eyes locked onto the source of the bolt, a tower on a high building; specifically, a balcony in front of some pink advertisements. A form hurriedly tucked a blaster rifle into a hidden compartment on a bright green speeder before jumping in themselves, closing the glass and pulling away, heading in the opposite direction. 

“Get ready,” Anakin said, but you too already knew that; in the back of your mind, you’d also seen the progression of him catching up to Obi-Wan. You turned around as the attacker’s speeder vanished from sight, watching firsthand as your own vehicle plummeted after Obi-Wan. Once beneath him, Anakin got the speeder as aligned with Obi-Wan’s descent as possible. Pure relief crossed your master’s face at the sight of you two, and he reached out, gripping the headrests tightly as he came down on the back in as gentle of a landing as he could manage. 

With a nod and a small salute at Anakin, you gripped the edge of the still-locked door and hopped over the side, vacating it for your flying-anxious mentor. He took the offer silently, but nodded gratefully, plopping down in the cushioned seat. You swung your legs up and forward, and with a little push from the Force, managed to flip yourself up onto the back of the speeder, just barely managing to catch the driver’s side headrest with your left hand. Anakin shifted the speeder slightly, affording you a little push to help you stabilize, and once you had your feet securely braced against a metal piece, you gave him mental confirmation that you were fine. You braced as Anakin whipped the speeder around, heading in the direction the assassin went.


	8. Midnight Chase Over Coruscant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The highlights of this chapter include a high speed chase and a flying-terrified Obi-Wan.  
In which you have great balance, Anakin has fantastic flying skills, and Obi-Wan just wants to be listened to for once.
> 
> Also, Zam Wesell has very likely thought about going home to rethink her life quite a lot during this time.

“What took you so long?” Obi-Wan was joking, but in having to yell over the noise of the city-planet, he sounded serious, even annoyed. You suspected that the difference was the lack of amusement in his face this time, but after that fall, you decided you wouldn’t be in the most smile-worthy of moods either.

“Oh, you know, we couldn’t find a speeder that we really liked,” Anakin shot back, visibly ruffled by Obi-Wan’s tone. “You know, with an open cockpit and the right speed capabilities, and I wanted some nice modifications too.”

“There they are,” you yelled, and Anakin hit the speed, racing after the little green speeder. You joined in the sarcastic mirth, doing a decidedly better job at conveying joking than either of your companions had. “We also wanted to make sure it was a nice color, not one that would embarrass you when we picked you up. There was a nice one that matched your lightsaber, but it was too expensive, far more than the Order would be willing to pay for.”

“If either of you spent as much time practicing your saber techniques as you do your wit, you would rival Master Yoda as a swordsman,” Obi-Wan remarked. Despite his attempts to keep a calm demeanor, you saw his white knuckle grip on the door and the seat cushion. You smirked as the fingers on the latter hand stretched around, searching for a seatbelt that was not there.

“And I thought we already did.” Anakin’s words positively dripped with sarcasm.

“Only in your mind, my very young apprentice,” Obi-Wan laughed. You suspected he didn’t see the resulting irritated eye-roll from your fellow padawan. 

“I suppose we probably surpass Master Yoda in our sense of wit, though. It’s easy when your rival doesn’t have much of one to speak of!” Obi-Wan’s jaw dropped at that one, but he let out a raucous laugh, one that was gladly mirrored by Anakin. 

“Don’t let him hear you say that, young one, or he might throw you out of the Order as a joke!”

You gave Obi-Wan a sideways grin. “We aren’t _ that _ much younger than you, Obi-Wan, if you do remember. Our initiations were on the same sunrise, after all!”

“Yes, I remember quite well, thank you.” He certainly didn’t find that nearly as funny as your scathing appraisal of Yoda’s humor. 

_ Hold on. _Your hands tightened on the headrests at Anakin’s silent warning. It was a good thing, too, because a matter of seconds later, he did a quick spin, taking the speeder out of the flow of traffic for a dive in response to the assassin doing the exact same thing. Gravity, however, decided that it didn’t like you all that much, and your arms began to ache with the strain of supporting nearly your full weight on very little dispersion area. 

_ Keep it steady. _You sensed the aura of a question in reply, but you didn’t answer before you shifted your weight. In a split second of decision, you grabbed Obi-Wan’s headrest with your left arm and dropped your weight, effectively hanging alongside where your companions sat. You felt a burst of alarm from Anakin, but he quickly pushed it aside with the trust that you knew what you were doing.

The speeders continued to plummet through the skies of Coruscant, lanes of traffic and other speeders flashing by, warranting no more than a passing glance of avoidance in the face of your current chase. You could practically feel the sheer terror of the ordeal coming off of Obi-Wan, but it was easily countered by the sheer adrenaline delight that you shared with Anakin. For the fun of it, you let out a whooping howl that would have echoed, had the infinite other sounds not drowned it within seconds of leaving earshot. Anakin laughed, both at you and in his own exhilaration. Even through the severity of your current predicament, this was the first time either of you had been allotted a moment to just let your cares go in years, though it was just for a matter of seconds. 

“Pull up Anakin!” Obi-Wan yelled, finally panicking enough to say something. A large starship-like ship moseyed along below, and you were certain he was afraid Anakin would crash into it. Anakin laughed again, but this time you knew it was because he loved giving Obi-Wan a good, safe scare as much as Obi-Wan loved to get on his nerves with his authority. “Anakin!”

Your fellow padawan finally relented, and you pushed with the Force, countering the jolt of the speeder resuming a horizontal habit and using the momentum to jump up onto the back of the speeder like a stuntman, regaining your stable position. 

“You know I don’t like it when you do that!” Obi-Wan scolded, clinging desperately to the inside of the speeder, as if that alone could save him from the mercies of his padawan’s driving. 

“Sorry, Master. I forgot you don’t like flying.” _ So _ much sarcasm from Anakin. You were starting to wonder if this was his way of getting Obi-Wan back for your argument with him earlier in the evening. 

“I don’t mind flying, but what _ you’re _ doing is suicide!” Obi-Wan shot back, panic still wild in his eyes.

“Clearly you’ve never participated in pod racing!” You laughed, prompting him to shake his head. Anakin’s flying was definitely not safe for typical traffic, but in terms of pod racing, it was as safe as it got. “Have you ever actually gone as a spectator?”

“No, I haven’t.”

Your eyebrows raised, but you jumped on the opportunity. “We should go sometime, when this is all over. You know, to celebrate. I hear Malastare has pod races that put Tatooine’s to shame!” You were, however, prepared to bring up Tatooine as a second option if he said no to the high stakes of Malastarian racing; then, maybe you could steal away to see Shmi in secret. You doubted he’d buy any of it.

“We’ll see about that,” Obi-Wan called back. It sounded almost as if he were considering it. “If there are both time and tickets to be had. The Order will not send us, but perhaps if we can find enough credits, and take a day or two of leave, we will go. As a treat.”

A burst of joy came down your link from Anakin, but it was short-lived as the assassin led you into a no-flying area above Coruscant’s in-city-bounds energy plants. Your grip tightened on the speeder as you looked over the main source of Coruscant’s air pollution. Fire flared from ventilation stacks, where gases and whatever else burned for energy met its heat-based end. Many massive smokestack torches lit up the area, illuminating the smoke and smog they put off in golden light; the buildings beyond the plant looked hazy through the thick pollutants. You weren’t entirely sure what was in the air, and you weren’t sure you wanted to know. Instinctively, you held your breath as the assassin led the way into the thick of the pollution; they were far more protected from whatever it might do to their health by the glass of their speeder, and you had a feeling they only came this way because your cockpit had no top to speak of.

Anakin masterfully wove through the smokestacks in pursuit of the assassin despite the new challenges, keeping on their tail as much as was possible. Every torch you passed left black dots in your vision from the sudden brightnesses against the otherwise unilluminated dark, and when your breath ran out and you were forced to breathe in, the heavy fuel stench hit you hard, nearly making you lose your grip. Anakin instinctively reached back to grab your wrist in case you did fall, as he was not quite as harshly affected by the fumes, but his hand was quickly back on the steering module with a quick word form Obi-Wan, whose hand closed around your wrist securely instead. The speeder cut a little too close to a torch, and you flinched away from the sudden extreme heat and the excessively loud roar of the fire; if you thought Tatooine was bad, you were certain you had just experienced a new level of eyebrow loss. You even felt Obi-Wan flinch away from the heat and noise.

The power plant pollution began to thin out as the assassin abandoned the torch field, heading off in a new direction with your speeder still in hot pursuit. You drank deeply of the incoming breeze, a refreshing contrast to the suffocating blanket of toxicity you had just flown through, and the extreme lightheadedness that had taken hold dissipated. Anakin reached out, trying to sense if you were alright; you sent assurance back. Obi-Wan glanced back at you over his shoulder, and seeing that you were much more grounded and stable now, let go of your wrist. Ahead, you saw the small green speeder zipping over the non-burner rooftops of the power plant, and directly in their path, the towering components of a power coupling loomed tall. You suspected it was used either during outages, or to stabilize the massive amounts of power that you were certain the plants needed to produce to support an entire city planet. 

“Are you quite alright?” Obi-Wan finally called back, the roar of the torch field finally behind you. 

“Fine,” you breathed. “I’m not great with fumes like that.” You narrowed your eyes suspiciously as the speeder ahead aligned their course with the blue inlay lights of the rooftop below, heading directly towards the power coupling. Obi-Wan followed your gaze just in time to see the assassin pull a hand-blaster, sending a bolt directly into the mechanics of the power coupling. It sparked violet, sending a few streaks of colored electricity up the damaged side of the coupling before exploding across the distance between in a brilliant net of lightning, just behind the tail of their speeder. 

“Anakin!” Obi-Wan yelled, but you and your fellow padawan were already bracing for the shock, knowing there was no chance to catch the assassin if you went around. “Anakin, how many times have I told you--” 

Obi-Wan’s sentence was cut short in favor of gritting his teeth as your speeder shot through the power coupling. You clung on for dear life as the voltage shot painfully through every inch of your body, but it was not just your own pain you had the joy of experiencing. Through your squinting eyes, you saw Anakin convulsing against the electricity as he desperately tried to retain control of the speeder, and through your link, you felt every inch of _ his _ pain, including the flip-flop of his heart having a few questionable palpitations that echoed in your own chest. The shocking didn’t stop after the coupling was gone, either, the voltage clinging on to the speeder for a good distance beyond.

When it finally relented, you gasped for breath, and Anakin gulped in air like a water-deprived fish. You sent him a welfare check of your own, and got back the abstract edition of an a-okay. Obi-Wan breathed deeply, trying his best to catch his breath while still looking dignified. “That was good,” he huffed, sarcasm in every word. “How many times have I told you to stay away from power couplings?” he finally yelled, managing to finish his sentence.

“I think we should just count ourselves lucky,” you yelled back, silently thanking the Force as the assassin headed back towards the main city. “It could have been much worse!”

“How so?” Obi-Wan pointed ahead, where the assassin was picking up speed. “There he goes, we mustn’t lose him.”

“If that had been anything like the couplings on podracers, we would have all been paralyzed, and then very likely dead from the resulting crash.” You didn’t have to see Obi-Wan’s face to know that he went pale. 

“I think the couplings on podracers might be more concentrated,” Anakin said, trying his best to assure your concerned master. “But don’t quote me on that. Remind me to look it up sometime.” With that, he pushed the speeder’s strength again, soaring after the assassin’s sleek vehicle with a rumble. 

You followed your target with your eyes, watching the little speeder weave between other traffic swiftly. “They’re panicking,” you commented, seeing the attacker’s frantic attempts to find somewhere to hide play out in their steering decisions. In a last frantic burst of speed, they took a sharp left, zooming into a lit tunnel. You watched said tunnel come closer, then pass in a blur as Anakin kept going.

“Where are you going? He went that way!” Obi-Wan said, having to shout to be heard over the plethora of traffic again.

Anakin kept up the high speed, checking his left. “If we keep this chase going any longer, that creep is going to end up deep-fried. Personally, I would very much like to find out who he is and who he’s working for.” He kept checking his left side. “This is a shortcut. I think.” 

You finally caught on to what Anakin was up to. “I daresay it’s an alternate route. There’s a turn up there,” you pointed out. “By the time we get back, they’ll be coming out of the tunnel, or we’ll be catching up, one of the two!”

Obi-Wan glanced back at you. “What makes you say that?”

“If that assassin thinks they’ve lost us, they’ll be lured into a false sense of security. They might go slower on the other side and they might not be on the lookout for our speeder.” Deep down, through your link, you knew Anakin had simply made a mistake, having thought there was a turn sooner, but you weren’t about to give Obi-Wan something else to tease Anakin over later, or lecture him about right this minute. Now, sent gratitude from Anakin warmed your chest, and you held on tight as the speeder rounded the tight U-turn to race along the other side of the buildings.

Anakin slowed the speeder, then stopped it at a hover when it reached a massive intersection. Several building tunnels let out below, but none were the same type as the one that the assassin had taken. Even though you knew Anakin had as little of an idea of where he had been going as you, you both scanned the skies and the airspace below, just in case the Force decided to be on your side tonight.

Obi-Wan looked around, then came to the realization that you hoped he wouldn’t come to. “Well, you’ve lost him,” he huffed, folding his arms.

“I am deeply sorry, Master,” Anakin said, clearly irritated that Obi-Wan was breaking his concentration. He only deigned to give Obi-Wan a mere glance before continuing to scour the skies.

“That was some shortcut, Anakin,” Obi-Wan began, but you both tuned him out, tapping into your Force strength through your link to try to sense the assassin. There were so many beings in the area, so many in the air, that it felt as difficult to pinpoint any one signature as it was to see any detail through the haze of pollution over the energy plant. A faint signature caught your attention, like a shiny detail through murky water, and you zeroed in on it; Anakin’s attention was receding, what with Obi-Wan lecturing in his ear. You opened your eyes, withdrawing your Force sense, and went back to looking with your eyes as that signature drew close. Obi-Wan was still lecturing, but neither of you were paying attention, instead scouring every vehicle that came along the lanes.

_ There. _The little green speeder puttered along a lane several stories below, on track to fly right below yours. 

Anakin saw it through the link, and after another split second, saw it with his eyes. _ I’m on it. _

“Once again you’ve proved--” Obi-Wan said, clearly about to make a scathing remark about Anakin being too headstrong or not ready for his Trials, but his apprentice was already getting up out of the seat. 

“If you’ll excuse me,” Anakin interrupted, then casually dropped himself from the side of the speeder, hurtling down towards traffic below in as controlled of a manner as one might hope to have while falling through thin air. 

Obi-Wan lunged to look over the edge of the speeder to see where he’d gone, first seeing your fellow padawan, then seeing the assassin’s speeder directly in his line of falling. He flopped back in his seat, knowing you were all the more eager than he to take the flight controls. “I hate it when he does that.”

“You and me both,” you agreed, finally sliding down into the driver’s seat. You were certain he’d be fine, but you always worried for his safety, just as he always worried for yours. With a glance around, you checked for traffic, then shot forward, determined to keep eyes on the other speeder. A suggestion of pain shot across the front of your body, mostly your chest and arms, and you knew Anakin had landed on the back of the other speeder.

“What is it? What’s the matter?” Obi-Wan asked, seeing the expression of discomfort cross your face. 

You steered the speeder through the same space that the assassin was taking far below, though the green vehicle was somewhat slower than before on account of having a Jedi clinging to the outside shell. “It’s nothing, my legs just fell asleep after balancing back there so long.” Looking around, you look stock of the surrounding traffic. “Hold on tight and prepare to drop.”

With that, you took the speeder into an angled nosedive, plummeting to get closer to the other speeder without losing too much ground. When you finally pulled horizontal, you had lost more ground than you meant to, but you pushed the yellow vehicle for speed, determined to make back the lost space.

“That’s one thing I must say I like better about flying with you,” Obi-Wan remarked. “You warn me before you try to give me a heart attack.” 

“It’s only polite to let a man expect his death,” you teased, pulling a smile from him. Under any other circumstances, you would not have been in the mood to throw jokes, but you could see Anakin struggling to keep hold of the assassin’s speeder ahead, and you could sense his panic every time he came a little too close to the prospect of falling. It didn’t help that the assassin was also giving off blaster fire, if the little bolts of light coming from just outside the cockpit were anything to go by. You knew Obi-Wan needed something to keep his mind from worrying over the airborne fight ahead as much as you did.

“Do focus on what you are doing, _ please, _” Obi-Wan insisted, gripping the seat a little tighter as you weaved obstacles and traffic, trying to get closer with any available shortcut possible. 

“Don’t worry, if anyone’s getting hurt tonight, it’s going to be that assassin,” you promised. Ahead, you saw Anakin’s form finally get a good hold on the front piece of the green speeder, only for the driver within to shoot forward, nearly sending him flying off the back. You made a mental note to potentially make good on that promise if anything more than close calls happened. 

That promise got filed into a back pocket of your brain as the bright blue flash of a lightsaber lit up the sky ahead, zipping through the air for only a second before it plunged into the cockpit of the green speeder. The speeder swerved dangerously, and you certainly hoped that Anakin had a plan in case he actually injured, or worse killed, the assassin; but through your link, you knew that he was only trying to cut away at the control panels and important machinery of the speeder to force them to stop running. His hand slipped, and the deactivated handle of his lightsaber somersaulted through the air. 

“Mind catching that?” you asked Obi-Wan, quickly readjusting your altitude so he was in line to do so. He opened his mouth for a split second to ask ‘what’ before he caught sight of the spinning silver metal, and with a quick lunging grab it landed neatly in his palm. More blaster fire sounded from the speeder ahead, and you had half a mind to push yours until you caught up. You registered Anakin’s arm in the hole his lightsaber had made just as your hands adjusted to add speed, then more blaster fire, before finally a _ bang _ of something important being blown out resounded from the little green vehicle. You made a judgement call and backed off slightly in case debris started flying. A few more loud bangs of other things exploding as a result of the first resounded over the noise of the traffic, and the lights of the speeder flickered as it began to shudder dangerously. The lights finally blinked out, and the speeder plummeted with a trail of smoke, only remotely gliding downwards due to the shape of the vehicle.

_ I’m going to give chase until you get here. _

_ We’re right behind you, we just need to land. Be careful. _

_ I’ll be fine. You be careful. _

You rolled your eyes with a faint smile, drawing a confused look from Obi-Wan as the little speeder surged towards the ground below. You felt heat across your hands, just enough to burn, and you clenched your teeth; Anakin’s hands must have been too close to whatever was producing the smoke. The speeder curved towards the ground, and when it drew close enough, Anakin’s form dropped from the roof, rolling a few feet and into a stack of boxes with the impact. You felt that a split second later, too; the sharp main impact on his left knee, the hit on his elbow, the box that hit him in the stomach. It took everything in your ability to keep a straight face as you scanned for a place to land. Below, the speeder finally crashed into a pillar and the assassin clambered from the wreckage, pausing for barely a moment before they took off running. You blocked your link as Anakin made to run after them, certain that you wouldn’t be able to hide the evidence of your secondhand pain from Obi-Wan if you didn’t. 

“Down there,” Obi-Wan said quickly, pointing to an alley one building over. “There’s enough space to land and very few people. It looks like Anakin might be chasing the attacker that way, too.” You nodded dutifully, steering the speeder over the building and cautiously lowering it down onto the street level. Obi-Wan was right; there were very few people, and the largest crowd was milling about the entrance to a nightclub. Up the street, several complaints could be heard as Anakin and his quarry barreled along, the latter making a line for the nightclub.

“Shall we?” you asked, exchanging a look with Obi-Wan. He nodded, and you both jumped from the speeder, running to catch Anakin at the entrance to the nightclub. You were certain you were all going to need a very long night’s rest after this.


	9. An Evening In The Outlander Club

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your exciting chase across the night sky comes to a close, but will it be fruitful?
> 
> In which you and Anakin have a little heart-to-heart, Obi-Wan shows off his cunning, and you prove to be more empathetic than anyone bargained for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From here on out I will try to keep up with 12-hour updates around the same time (2:15 PST), but this is the last of the marathon writing I did. Enjoy!

Obi-Wan led the way as you dodged through the passerby on the street, heading for the nightclub’s entrance. Through the throng of ordinary pedestrians, you saw the assassin sprint into the nightclub, vanishing into the crowd within.

“Anakin!” Your fellow padawan stopped in his tracks just before darting inside himself. A small smile graced his face for all of a second the moment he saw you behind Obi-Wan. You returned it wholeheartedly. “Are you alright?”

“Just a little sore, I’m fine,” he assured you. You wanted with every inch of your being to wrap him in a relieved hug, but Obi-Wan would never let that fly in his presence, much less on a mission. He got the spirit through your link, sending warmth enough back that you may as well have been enveloped in his embrace. Both your attentions were quickly replaced by matters at hand. “She went into the club, Obi-Wan, I was about to catch up to her.”

“Patience,” Obi-Wan said softly, but sternly. “Use the Force. _ Think. _”

“Sorry,” Anakin said, still trying to catch his breath. “I-”

Obi-Wan cut him off. “They went in there to hide, not to run.”

“Yes, I _ know _.” Anakin was getting more frazzled and impatient by the minute.

Obi-Wan finally held up Anakin’s wayward lightsaber, pointing the safe end of it towards Anakin as if he were scolding him. “Next time, try not to lose it.”

“Yes, Obi-Wan.” He made to take it, but your master pulled it back just slightly out of reach. 

“This weapon is your _ life _, Anakin,” he continued sternly. “Do try to protect it at all costs. You cannot afford to be caught without some form of defense, especially in these times of tension.”

He finally held the lightsaber out, and Anakin gladly took it. “I try, I really do.”

Obi-Wan turned and led the way into the club, with you and Anakin close behind. You gently, if playfully nudged Anakin’s arm with yours. “You shouldn’t worry yourself too much, Obi-Wan. We’ll always be here to save each other’s skins!”

“Cheers to that,” Anakin agreed, and you each raised a fist, bumping the backs of your hands.

“That is precisely what concerns me. You are positively destructive as a pair when you want to be, and sometimes even when you don't mean to.” Obi-Wan sighed, striding through the entry hall of the club. “Why do I get the feeling you two will be the death of me?”

“Don’t say that,” Anakin said. “You’re the closest thing we have to family in the Order.”

“You’re practically our big brother,” you added. He had all but finished your raising, and his desire to teach you both the ways of the world would have made him quite a fatherly figure...if he had been older, like Qui-Gon Jinn. No matter how much he referred to you as his young padawans, you knew you would always remember him as the padawan he was when you first met.

“Then why don’t either of you ever listen to me?” Obi-Wan led the way down a line of neon-lit steps, scanning back and forth for any sign of your runaway. 

“We do try,” Anakin assured him, but it was met with no comment as you all surveyed the room before you. There were scantily-clad patrons and well-dressed patrons alike--most of them human by the looks of it--and several waiters, all milling about relatively quietly while some kind of animal racing and droid sports provided background noise and something to bet about on the large televisions. Nowhere in your sights was there anyone resembling the dress of the assassin.

“Can you see him?” Obi-Wan asked quietly.

“I think he is a she,” Anakin corrected. “And I think she is a changeling.” You met that with a long sigh, sharing a tired look.

“In that case, be very careful,” Obi-Wan advised. He took a deep breath, giving another scan of the room and a nod before beginning to head down the stairs. “Go and find her.”

You stared at him, utterly startled by his order. “What?”

“Where are you going?” Anakin asked, clearly as confused by it as you were.

Obi-Wan turned, giving you both a sly smile. “For a drink, of course.”

You nodded with a knowing smile, catching onto his plan as he walked away. Anakin offered you his arm, and you looped your hand through it, appreciating the closeness of the gesture as you began to make your rounds through the club, heading in the opposite direction your master had. 

“How are you actually doing?” you asked quietly, scanning the room for any sign of silver armor.

“I feel like Yoda when there is too large of a temperature shift,” he admitted, knowing it was pointless to try to hide his condition from you. Your link had un-blocked again on its own, but you didn’t prod into each other’s minds rudely, and now you could tell that Anakin was blocking his current soreness from leaching down it. “I’m sorry. I should have put up the block before I went after her.” 

You shook your head. “Don’t be. You didn’t know what she was going to pull.” Neither of you were very good at blocking your link on such short notice; having it consistently open was more than easy to get used to, and you both often forgot that you could close it off. 

Your eyes continued to pass over the room as you walked, and you caught sight of several girls and guys of varying species giving Anakin a long up and down before flashing him flirty grins. If he noticed, he didn’t give any sign, but you gently pressed yourself into his side, meeting their gazes. If there was one thing to be said for the pair of you, it was that you could easily look like a couple when the situation required, as it did now. You knew you wouldn’t be catching any assassins if Anakin ended up trapped in a crowd of interested individuals, so you began deterring any potential interference to the investigation. Most took the hint and looked away. You grinned and winked at those who silently challenged you instead, inspiring enough unexpected social awkwardness in that one gesture that they too went back to minding their own business.

“Are you alright?” His equally quiet question came as a surprise, focused as you had been on mitigating potential obstructions. 

“What do you mean?”

“All the flying around on the back of the speeder, the pollution, the power coupling, getting the fallout of the speeder crash…” He left it open ended, continuing to scan the room. You were about halfway through combing the club now, with no sign of the changeling, and you dearly hoped that Obi-Wan’s plan would work. 

“I’m tired,” you admitted. “And a little on edge. These are high stakes tonight and we can’t afford to mess up.” The warmth of Anakin’s side pressed against yours was comforting, but neither that nor the would-be dates were going to throw you off your vigilance. You drew his attention to the mitigations through your link, and he became suddenly uncomfortable at the realization that half the bar was looking his way. He shifted his end of the link as well, and you suddenly became aware that you weren’t the only one warding away potential suitors for the other while on duty. 

“We won’t. We’re going to find this killer, find out who she’s working for, and get to the bottom of this,” Anakin promised, laying his hand over yours on his arm. It was a comforting gesture, but it helped bolster your couple’s facade, finally driving away the last few wanting eyes from the both of you. A dash of sadness streaked through your chest at knowing this could never actually be, what with both of you following the Jedi path, but for now, you were determined to enjoy every minute. “Then we can drag Obi-Wan along to some pod races, and go back to our lives as Jedi, then Jedi Masters.”

There was an unspoken wish for checking on Shmi in there, you knew, but your patrol through the bar had nearly come to an end, as had your time as a chatting faux couple. Anakin’s hand slowly slid off yours, though he didn't make any attempt to remove his arm from your hand. “I certainly hope so, Ani. One step at a time, right?”

“Right.”

Across the club, you heard someone drunk make a rude joke in Huttese, followed by boisterous laughter. That was when you sensed it; the same glimmer of a presence that you’d sensed just before Anakin went speeder surfing, moving steadily towards the stationary, solid presence of Obi-Wan. A shared glance told you Anakin had sensed it as well, and you hurried forward, looping back into the bar area. You slunk through the crowd, arms still linked, just in time to see the assassin creeping up on your master. You had half a mind to warn him, but the tension in his shoulders told you he already knew she was there. He was just biding his time.

The assassin drew her blaster in a swift movement, but as she approached to shoot Obi-Wan square in the back, he whirled, meeting her with a humming streak of blue light. Her hand and the blaster hit the floor with an underwhelming plop and clatter, and she fell back against an inclined bit of wall, muttering curses between groans of pain. Several people in the crowd yelped startled screams, but the majority murmured among themselves, all eyes on the altercation. Your hand slid from Anakin’s elbow as you both moved in, pausing at his hand just long enough to exchange a brief squeeze.

“Easy,” Anakin said loudly, drawing attention before the crowd could panic. “Jedi business, go back to your drinks.” The majority of the patrons immediately pretended to ignore the goings on, though many still stared openly. You hooked a hand under the assassin’s left arm, Obi-Wan took her right, and you pulled her begrudging form to her feet. 

Together, you and Obi-Wan hauled the assassin to the side entrance while Anakin brought up the rear. She struggled as much as she could without being obvious, which wasn’t enough to counter either of your grips. You supposed she could probably have wrested herself free if she really wanted to, but knew that you were doing your best to preserve her remaining dignity as well as your own, and had no desire to disrupt that. The cool air of night breezed across you as you entered the alley, and the assassin slumped to the ground, in pain and tired of running. You and Obi-Wan stayed close, the latter keeping her good arm over his shoulder, and Anakin dropped to a knee beside you, blocking her escape should she change her mind.

“Do you know who it was you were trying to kill?” Obi-Wan asked, as casually as if he were asking her favorite food.

The assassin grit her teeth as the stump of her arm brushed the ground. “It was a senator from Naboo,” she ground out. 

“And who hired you?”

She flinched, her face contorting in pain for a moment. “It was just a job,” she said quietly. You had no doubt about that, if the regret in her voice was anything to go by; you suspected she didn’t even know Padmé’s name.

Anakin leaned in close, a hidden threat in his eyes as he prepared to play bad cop. “Who hired you? Tell us_._” The assassin grit her jaw, visibly balking. You sensed a flare of impatient anger on the other end of your link at her defiance. “Tell us now!”

“You won’t come to any harm from us,” you assured her. “The Jedi Council will look favorably on you if you point us in the right direction.”

Relief crossed her face as she looked into your eyes, the eyes of another woman, seeing no avarice there. She nodded, taking a deep breath as she attempted to cope with the pain in her arm. “I was hired by a bounty hunter called--” 

A gleam of flying silver caught the pale yellow light from the streetlamp, audibly connecting with flesh. The three of you whipped around just in time to see a humanoid, clad head to toe in reflective, blue-accented silver armor, take off from the top of a nearby building with a jet-pack. 

You turned back to the assassin to find her face frozen in shock, whatever last letter sound she had been about to make replaced by slack-jawed disbelief. It lasted for only a split second before a choking noise came out. Her good arm twitched and her face shifted, looking less like a human and more like her Clawdite form. _ “Wee shahnit...sleemo,” _ she choked out, her last words a curse in her own tongue before she went entirely limp, dying there on the sidewalk. 

Obi-Wan reached for the silver piece, pulling it from where it had sunk into the exposed flesh of her neck. He held it up to the light, appraising it. “Toxic dart,” he said, turning it back and forth. 

Anakin leaned forward, pressing his fingers to her neck. “She’s gone,” he concluded. “We're too late to get her an antidote.” He shook his head, disappointment clouding his irritation. “This wild womp-rat chase was all for nothing.”

“It wasn’t all for nothing.” Obi-Wan held up the dart with a clever sparkle in his eye. “We have this.”

“Whoever killed her didn’t want her talking,” you commented. “If we can find where that dart was manufactured, we can narrow down a list of known bounty hunters from or working in those regions, right?”

Obi-Wan nodded. “Very good, my young apprentice. There are many bounty hunters, but there are always very few for any specific location. I suspect this new evidence will speed an investigation significantly.” Your master stood, prompting you to follow, and turned to leave.

“What about her?”

Your companions turned, looking at you, then looking at the assassin’s remains. “What about her?” Anakin asked. 

“We can’t just leave her body here.”

Anakin blinked a few times in surprise. “(Y/n), she tried to _ kill _ Padmé. Who knows how many others she’s killed. I say we let someone else worry about it and get this dart to the Council.”

“She didn’t even know Padmé’s name,” you retorted. “She was just doing the job she was hired for, as we are. To leave her here would be as if someone killed one of us on a mission and left them in an alley, except I don’t think she has anyone to come looking for her like we would.” You weren’t sure why you were so determined to give this assassin a dignified final rest. Perhaps it was the humanity you saw in her eyes in her last moments. Perhaps it had something to do with the pale fur of rats you’d glimpsed in the shadows down the alley. You weren’t about to get picky with your reasoning; leaving her to rot until someone decided to clean her up just felt wrong.

Anakin looked back at the assassin’s body and gave a long sigh. You gauged his emotions through your link, and you knew he'd stopped to picture both Obi-Wan and you in that scenario; the pang ringing through your chest told you he couldn't bear the thought of either for long. “Fair enough. Obi-Wan?”

Your master was already heading back down the alley. He pulled the fabric of her mask over her face, hefted the assassin’s body into his arms gracefully, then nodded for you both to walk ahead. “We will take her with us, but the Council will decide what happens to her body; whether we send it back to her home planet or deal with it ourselves. We need to talk to them, in any case,” Obi-Wan reasoned. “I will drop you both off at Padmé’s apartment, take this assassin's body to the Council, and meet you back there. We will all return to the Temple in the morning to give the official report, and see what is to be done.”

You nodded, walking close side-by-side with Anakin as you made your way back to the yellow speeder, feet heavy with exhaustion as the night's events caught up to you. Neither of you needed your link to know that you both wanted nothing more than to curl up under soft blankets and sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: It always bothered me how nothing says what happened to Zam's body canonically; it just seems to be implied that they took the dart and left her there as someone else's problem, which doesn't seem like very Jedi-like behavior. That's what fanfiction is for, right?


	10. A Morning of Meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that the person responsible for all these attacks is gone, what will the future of your assignment be?
> 
> Happy Valentine's day, readers! Tonight will be a double-update night for the occasion! Check back in around the 12-hour posting time for the next chapter!

Dawn came too early, only affording you and Anakin a few hours of sleep after your return to Padmé’s apartment. Obi-Wan had even less, having returned sometime after you and Anakin had passed out in a dog-pile on Padmé’s couches. You had left at first light, and golden dawn found you walking the halls of the Jedi temple, heading to hear the Council’s deliberations on the continuation of your assignment, given the revelations of the night before.

“Only speak when you must,” Obi-Wan reminded you, watching as the lift came down from several stories above. “We will likely only be receiving orders today. If they wish for us to continue guarding Padmé and assign someone else to the investigation, do not argue.” He flashed Anakin a glance over his shoulder. “Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Obi-Wan,” you replied in unison. The doors of the lift slid open before you, and you sucked in a nervous breath, exchanging a glance with Anakin. Obi-Wan afforded you more behavioral leeway than most of the other Jedi would allow, and you were certain that the Council would delay your Trials if they got word of your using Padmé as bait. You dearly hoped that Obi-Wan had kept that part of the night’s events to himself.

The ride up to the Council chambers was eerily quiet for the three of you, though a large portion of the silence had to do with the fact that you were all still struggling to open your eyes. A few hours had not been nearly enough sleep after being awake since settling the Aniron dispute, but you supposed you were lucky to have gotten any sleep at all. You and Anakin exchanged calm through your links, trying to assure each other as the lift finally stopped, opening to reveal the Circle of Judgement that was the Jedi Council. 

You offered a respectful, if tired nod to Master Windu, one that he returned; you had learned all he had to offer you in one-on-one training, and now only met occasionally so he could monitor your progress. Obi-Wan and Anakin exchanged a similar show of respect with Master Yoda, and by the spark of amusement that came down your link, you were certain they were remembering the harsh knock you made at Yoda’s sense of humor, now that they were in his presence.

“Has the Council arrived at a decision?” Obi-Wan asked.

“Indeed.” Yoda folded his small three-fingered hands, looking pensive. “Track down this bounty hunter you must, Obi-Wan.”

“Most importantly, find out who he is working for,” Master Windu chipped in.

“What about Senator Amidala?” Obi-Wan asked. “I am certain she will still need protection. This bounty hunter hired one aide; could he not hire another while we are chasing him?”

Yoda seemed to consider this, nodding. “Handle that, your Padawans will. Ready, they are.” You raised an eyebrow; just a day ago, they had a small laundry list of reasons you couldn’t. Obi-Wan shifted in the edge of your vision, making you wonder if he had credited you both with more of the good from last night than was due.

“Anakin, escort the Senator back to her home planet of Naboo,” Master Windu elaborated. “She’ll be safer there. And don’t use registered transport; travel as refugees. It will make it harder for them to track.” The Jedi Master’s gaze shifted to you. “(Y/n), you may either go with Master Kenobi or with Anakin, whoever needs your aid more. I trust my teachings have equipped you to handle either situation.”

“Yes, Master Windu. Thank you,” you said.

Anakin cleared his throat. “As the leader of the opposition, it will be very difficult to get Senator Amidala to leave the capital.” You could feel his nerves as if they were your own, and you knew he was finding it difficult to keep eye contact under such scrutiny. 

“Until caught this killer is, our judgement she must respect,” Yoda said decisively, resting his head on his folded hands with a small grunt.

Master Windu nodded his agreement. “Anakin, go to the senate and ask Chancellor Palpatine to speak with her about this matter,” he advised. “Good luck to you all.”

The three of you bowed respectfully. The lift doors opened before you could call it, and you wondered if one of the other Council members had done so before you were ever dismissed. You turned, just steps from the lift doors, and met Master Windu's gaze.

"What became of the assassin's body?" The question had been burning in your mind since you awoke that morning.

"We uncovered her identity using facial recognition databases. Her name was Zam Wesell," Master Windu began. "She had family who had been looking for her for years, and were grateful to know what became of her. Her remains were sent back to her home planet with a Jedi accompaniment this morning."

Relief allowed your shoulders to relax. "I am glad to hear it. Thank you Master Windu."

The doors closed behind you after you joined your companions in the lift. “(Y/n), you will go with Anakin,” Obi-Wan said. You could practically see the wheels in his head trying to turn against his pervasive exhaustion. “I can investigate alone, but Padmé may need more than one set of eyes on her if the bounty hunter tries harder to fulfill his order.” You and Anakin nodded, but uncertainty squirmed in the pit of your stomach. Something told you that this investigation was going to turn into something far beyond merely guarding a senator for a few days, and you didn’t like it.

***

“Good morning, Chancellor.” Obi-Wan had dropped the pair of you off at the Senate Dome, where you and Anakin had promptly found the office you were looking for. 

Chancellor Palpatine, his hair and face showing the toll his appointment had taken on him in the past decade, smiled back at the pair of you from his doorway. “Anakin, (y/n), so good to see you. Please, please, come in. Your presence is most welcome here.” He moved out of the way to afford you entry, which you both gladly accepted. “What brings you here at this hour? I would expect you’d be training at this time.”

“The Jedi Council asked us to speak with you,” you began. “We are to escort Senator Amidala back to her home planet, but we feel she will not go just because they ordered her to.”

Chancellor Palpatine bowed his head, leading the way to the far window in his office. “I see, I see. And, did either of you try speaking to her yourselves yet?”

“We wanted to minimize the chance of arguing with her,” Anakin said. Neither of you had really planned to try, instead going the route of least resistance. The last thing you needed was to make things more difficult than they needed to be. “If we are to be protecting her for the foreseeable future, we decided we would rather not have her angry at us.”

Palpatine nodded sagely. “I will talk with her,” he said knowingly. “Senator Amidala will not refuse an executive order. I know her well enough to assure you of that.”

“Thank you, Your Excellency,” Anakin said, sticking to formalities. Over the years, you had both gotten to know the Chancellor on the most casual of basis, but formal matters called for formal address. 

Chancellor Palpatine’s formalities dropped, and he offered you both an excited little smile. “So,” he began, a smile in his voice. “They’ve finally given you your own assignment. How exciting!” His smile widened. “Your patience has paid off.”

“Your guidance, more than our patience,” Anakin said, both of you breaking little smiles of your own. You had to agree with Anakin; you were both plenty patient, but Palpatine had offered you both some useful politician’s tips on staying quiet when you wanted nothing more than to speak up and fight, something that had become infinitely useful in Council meetings. Such tips had certainly worked in your favor over the years, bettering and maturing you both in the eyes of the Council.

“Neither of you need  _ guidance, _ ” Palpatine laughed, turning away from where you stood at the window. “You need to learn to trust your feelings; in time, I am certain you will. Then, I daresay you will be invincible. Second-guessing instincts never did anyone favors.” You followed him down the few steps in his office to the main floor. “I have said it many times. You are the most gifted Jedi I have ever met.”

“Thank you, Your Excellency, but don’t butter us up  _ too _ much,” you joked, drawing a smile from both the Chancellor and Anakin.

“Oh no, I mean it,” Palpatine replied, giving you and Anakin knowing smiles. “I see you becoming the greatest of all the Jedi, even more powerful than Master Yoda.” 

“Obi-Wan doesn’t seem to think so,” Anakin muttered. You knew he was still sore from some of your master’s attempts at humor. “He still seems to be under the impression that we’re children who have no idea how to use the Force.”

“Nonsense.” Palpatine rested a hand on his shoulder. “The Jedi prize humility above all else, but rest assured that they too must have faith in their own actions, as well as each other. I doubt Obi-Wan truly believes that you are children and incapable of utilizing the Force. Sometimes, Anakin, words are just that. Words. Trust what your instincts tell you, and you will know the truth of your strength; you would do well to follow those instincts now and again as well.”

“Thank you,” Anakin reiterated, and you both bowed in respect. The Chancellor opened the door, holding it for you both. “We will come to visit you again when we can.”

“I look forward to that day, whenever it may be,” Palpatine promised. He held his free arm open, pulling Anakin in for a hug first, then you, giving you each a squeeze that was far more genuine than any of the few stiff-backed arm-wraps Obi-Wan had ever given you. “I wish you both safe travels. May the Force be with you.”


	11. Bearer of Bad News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The tides of fate typically turn during large scale events. Wars. Celebrations. The occasional trip into a nest of Gundarks.  
Nobody mentions that they can turn during quiet moments and peaceful oases.
> 
> In which Padmé is more than a little ruffled over being told what to do, Anakin is also ruffled over being told what to do, and you are ruffled because communication and Skywalker exist in the same sentence as often as fun and Obi-Wan do.

“How do you think she’s going to take this?” You scanned the airspace before you, watching for the speeder taxi. 

“Hopefully not as badly as we think she will.” Anakin stayed close. You could tell he was as excited as you were nervous to take on the challenge of an unsupervised mission. “It’s not like we’re the ones telling her she has to leave. We’re just messengers and chaperones.”

You pulled your cloak tight around you against the chilly wind. Anakin noticed the gesture and moved closer, wrapping the edge of his cloak around your back. He put off heat like the torching smokestacks of the energy plants, and you shifted further into his side, grateful for the warmth seeping into your side through your tunic. “Doesn’t it bother you that Obi-Wan is continuing the investigation without us? I mean, he didn’t want to investigate in the first place.”

Anakin’s shoulder moved against your back, shrugging. “A little, I suppose, but we get to spend time with Padmé. We get to properly catch up with her, and get to know her better.” You felt him sigh against your side, and a pang ringing through his chest echoed in yours, punctuated by an anxious prickle of excitement. “Get to be ourselves, without Obi-Wan or other Jedi approving every single word we say.”

You twisted a little, looking up over your shoulder, and a small smile broke on your face. “Perhaps it will be nice to not worry about every misstep getting back to the Council one way or another,” you agreed. 

Anakin smirked down at you, playfulness replacing some of the worry seeping through your link. “What’s that supposed to mean, (y/n)?”

The small smile that had graced your face bloomed into a full grin. “It means that what happens on Naboo stays on Naboo, Ani,” you teased. Secretly, you knew there were limits to what you would omit. If your group were attacked along the way, you certainly wouldn’t hush it up. However, you knew in your heart that there were some things you only kept under wraps and controlled when other Jedi were about, like emotions, things there was no sense in forcing the matter with if you were to be fully unsupervised. “You know I'm not going to go run back to Obi-Wan, or anyone else, if we bend a rule or two on this mission.”

“You make a good point,” he hummed, the deep sound reverberating through both your rib cages. “I wouldn’t run back to them about a bent rule or two either.” He nodded agreeably. “What happens on Naboo stays on Naboo.”

The sound of the speeder taxi drowned out all other noise, and even when you were seated safely inside, the echo of thousands of other vehicles prevented any further conversation. Granted, it wasn’t nearly as bad as the downtown midnight rush that you’d raced through the night before, but with your throat already a little sore from calling over that ordeal, you didn’t feel like yelling over the traffic. Instead, you opted for communicating through your link; not specific meaningful words as on occasion, but the abstract language of emotions you had somehow concocted over the years. Anakin smiled as you sent along happiness, warmth that softly curled around your ribs. In turn, he shared his excitement, the anticipation of this new level of freedom dropping in your stomach like a stone in much the same way adrenaline did when safely plummeting out of the sky. There was just enough time to send back one last emotion, a sort of longing that panged in your chest, equally warm as he had been contrasted to the cold wind. Its reception was interrupted by the taxi pulling over the landing pad on the side of the building, the driver announcing the cost loudly enough for all to hear. You paid in credits provided by the Order for your travel, and your link cleared of your sendings before the taxi zipped off the platform.

“Deep breaths,” you reminded Anakin, seeing the sudden tension in his stature as you entered the building. You couldn’t help breaking a little smile. “As you are so fond of saying, what’s the worst that could happen?”

“Sometimes you are just like Obi-Wan,” he sighed, fidgeting over his cloak again as you made your way to the lift. “Now I see why you hate it when I say that. Do you want me to list all the ways something could go wrong?”

You chuckled. “If that would make you feel better, be my guest. I can think of a fair few myself.” You pressed the button, calling the lift, and heard the prompt hum of it moving smoothly downward. “Let’s just hope for the positive. She’s too diplomatic to do more than make her displeasures known in the most tactful way she can, I think.”

Anakin nodded, stepping into the lift beside you. “You’re right. She’s unlike any drunk gambler on Tatooine, that’s for sure.”

Padmé turned the moment the elevator door opened, fixing you with her questioning gaze. “(Y/n), Anakin, you’re back. Where is Master Kenobi?”

“He was assigned to start investigating to discover who hired the assassin,” you said, sparing Anakin his nerves. “We're to protect and escort you until the vote is over. We also have some news that I don’t think you’re going to like.”

Padmé pursed her lips slightly, but her face quickly relaxed as she pushed away her irritation. “Chancellor Palpatine just sent me a hologram. The Jedi think I should go home.”

Well, there went any chance of breaking it to her gently. “Just until the threat of assassins and bounty hunters passes. Their thinking is that you will be less accessible there, harder to find.”

She shut her eyes, nodding as frustration rippled off her, but she pushed that away too. “I have already sent for Jar-Jar. As the secondary representative for Naboo, he will be standing in for me.”

“You’re actually going?” Anakin seemed as shocked at her willingness to leave as you were.

She shrugged, sitting on the arm of the couch. Her deep blue dress pooled over the furniture like a waterfall. “What choice do I have? If I stay, what then? It’s easier for everyone involved if I go along with this, whether I want to or not.” 

Behind you, the lift dinged, and her attention was immediately diverted. “That will be Jar-Jar, if you will excuse me for a moment?”

Together, you and Anakin nodded and stood aside, watching as she crossed the room to meet the Gungan. You touched Anakin’s elbow lightly, twitching your head a little, and he got the message, following you to the windows in the hall leading to her room. The Jar-Jar’s greeting echoed after you, but despite wanting to go back and greet him, you let Padmé attend to her business. Even with your distance, however, you could still hear their conversation, and neither you nor Anakin could resist eavesdropping.

“I’m taking an extended leave of absence,” Padmé informed Jar-Jar, all the negative in her heart removed from her voice. “It will be your responsibility to take my place in the Senate.” She sighed, perhaps more heavily than she meant to. “Representative Binks, I know I can count on you to oversee my wishes, and the wishes of Naboo, in my absence.”

Jar-Jar stood as tall as he could, every inch of him prepared to make Padmé proud. “Meesa honored to be taking on dissa heavy burden,” he said, meaning every word. Someone had certainly offered him some education in diplomacy. “Meesa accept this with muy muy humility, and…and...” he searched for more words, but was clearly running short on proper language. 

“Jar-Jar,” Padmé smiled, relieving him of his lingual struggle. “I don’t wish to hold you up. I am sure you have a great deal to do, especially now.” She leaned in a little. “Use that for your speech, when you officially and publicly accept the position.”

Jar-Jar smiled, but quickly bowed low. “Of course. Thank you, mi’lady. Travel safely.” He made to walk off, but turned slightly, waving to you and Anakin. You waved back, wondering if this would be the last you ever saw of him, and the Gungan left the way he’d come.

“Easier for us all or not, I still do not like this idea of hiding,” Padmé finally said, letting her true frustrations and reined in temper shine through in her tone and body language. Her shoes clicked dangerously on the floor as she passed, heading for her room.

“Don’t worry,” Anakin said, finally piping up as you both made to follow her. “Now that the Council has ordered an official investigation, it won’t take Master Obi-Wan long to find the bounty hunter. It's much more efficient than rigging things so we can investigate against their wishes.”

Padmé frustratedly scooped folded clothes from a shelf near her closet, where her handmaiden collected other articles. You moved to help the poor girl, who looked vaguely overwhelmed by the number of clothes left to pull and fold. “I have not worked for a year to defeat the Military Creation Act to not be here when its fate is decided,” she ranted, brushing across the room. The collected clothes were forcefully dropped into open luggage. Clearly she had begun preparations after speaking with Palpatine.

Anakin straightened, pacing the room stiffly. You sensed his nervousness now that you weren’t by his side in her presence, but he did his best to ignore the anxiety. “Sometimes we must let go of our pride and do what is requested of us,” he said. A snort threatened in the back of your throat. If only he took Obi-Wan’s advice as readily as he quoted it.

Padmé met his gaze, and over the pile of clothes you’d collected on your arm, you saw her posture relax slightly. You heard the smile and surprise in her voice as she spoke, too. “Anakin, you’ve grown up.” She paced back to the closet, and you handed off a stack of Force-folded clothes to her for packing.

“Obi-Wan manages not to see it.” His words were laced with sarcasm, but you knew he meant it on some level, despite Palpatine’s most recent counsel. He wandered towards the window, eyeing a decorative ball before he began levitating it, Force-fidgeting. “Don’t get me wrong, Obi-Wan is a great mentor, as wise as Master Yoda and as powerful as Master Windu. I am truly thankful to be his apprentice. We both are.” The decorative ball went back on its stand. “In some ways--well, a lot of ways--I think we’re ahead of him, where he thinks we are in our training.”

You folded the last of the clothes, stacking them precariously on the shelf when your folding outpaced Padmé’s ability to pack. “We both feel that we’re ready for the Trials, but Obi-Wan refuses to entertain the idea,” you explained. “He feels that we’re unpredictable. We understand that he wants to make sure we’re ready, but sometimes it feels like he won’t let us move on. He was about our age when he became a Knight, and he took us as Padawans that first morning. Our age isn't the problem.”

“That must be frustrating,” Padmé agreed, pressing down clothes into her luggage. Silently, you wondered how much that would weigh when she was done.

“It gets worse,” Anakin picked up. “He’s overly critical and he never listens to half our ideas. He...he doesn’t understand us as well as he thinks, and it isn’t fair.”

“He seems to get a kick out of trying to make us feel utterly inferior at times, even when we’re doing our best to impress him. Sometimes it can be hard to tell when he’s joking. His humor can be very dry.” Padmé nodded in response to your explanation, seeming to understand, and you wondered if she’d had her share of similar mentors.

“All mentors have a way of seeing more of our faults than we would like,” Padmé said gently. “It’s the only way we grow.” With her silver fish-fin headdress, she gave off the aura of a water being come up from the deep to impart wisdom. 

Anakin slumped on the end of her bed with a long sigh. “I know.”

Padmé carefully stuffed another handful of clothes into the luggage. It was impressive how much such a small bag could hold. “Anakin,” she said softly, pausing. “Don’t try to grow up too fast. Neither of you should.”

You moved to check that the closet was empty, and heard Anakin stand from the bed behind you, a flash of determination trickling down your link that bled into something different, something...new. His voice went soft, speaking on a wistful breath. “But I am grown up. You said it yourself.” 

His tone made you look over your shoulder, and that was when you caught the look on his face; pure tenderness, blended with longing and desperation as he gazed into her deep brown eyes, punctuated by a smile.

The smile only you had ever seen.

Something about that struck you in the chest like a blaster bolt, stinging and burning and stealing your breath, collapsing your ribs until you couldn’t inhale. You looked away, blocking your emotions from entering your link before the feeling could fully bloom into the painful burning it became, while you tried to figure out what the feeling _was, _nevermind why it was there or how to deal with it.

“Please don’t look at me like that.” Padmé’s voice was quiet, but stern. 

“Why not?” Anakin’s voice held the same hushed tone, and you were certain that that look hadn’t left his face. You focused as hard as you could on checking the back of the closet for missed items, but the mystery feeling sat heavily on your ribs, smoldering as if acid had been poured across your chest. It prevented you from thinking straight--subsequently, also preventing you from identifying any part of it.

“It makes me feel uncomfortable.” Her response was quick, abrupt, and utterly deadpan, and the pure contrast of it to the previous exchange put out the incessant burn in your chest faster than a wildfire flooded with Naboo’s coldest river. 

“I’m sorry, my lady.” Anakin’s sudden formalities couldn’t hide the remnant amusement in his voice, amusement that threatened to stoke the just-extinguished coals.

Padmé’s shoes approached from behind, and you turned, holding out the bracelet you had just pulled from beneath the shoe rack. Behind her, you saw Anakin turn, wandering away towards the front rooms.

“This is the last of your things,” you said, letting the blue gem beads pool into her hand. You offered a smile, determined to pretend you hadn’t just overheard their conversation.

“Thank you.” Padmé glanced over her shoulder at where Anakin had gone. “May I speak to you a moment, (y/n)?” She caught your eyes flit towards the mouth of the hall. “Alone. It’s not about your assignment.”

You nodded uncertainly. “Of course.” You kept your mask of indifference on, using it to hide what would have otherwise been visible confusion.

Padmé’s voice dropped as if Anakin were still standing in the room. “You seem to know Anakin better than anyone,” she started, seeming as unsure of where this was going as you were. “Do you know why he’s like that?”

Your mask slipped, and your genuine confusion shone through. “Like what?”

Padmé laughed, awkwardness creeping into her disposition. “He flirts as if he’s never spoken to a girl in his life. I’m sure he’s had _plenty _of practice, so…why is he like that?”

For a moment, all you could do was blink at her, ice-cold realization sliding down your spine and pooling where your flare of emotions had just been extinguished. _Flirting. _Your brain put the pieces together faster than you could follow along. The pain that had rushed through your heart had been _jealousy. _That revelation surprised you duly. Hadn’t he reconciled his childhood infatuation with Padmé as missing a good, if long-lost friend? He’d certainly acted like it. You realized that you’d operated a little too heavily on the assumption that Anakin, _Anakin, _of all people, would at least obey that part of the Jedi Code and not partake of romantic attachments, even if he _did_ still have feelings for her. The evidence against that idea stacked up the more you thought about the events of the past few days. Perhaps you'd thought he would keep out of such attachments because you'd convinced yourself to do so. You were different people, of course, but it wasn't as if you were dissimilar in nearly every other way; you knew the Jedi Council worried about your uncountable similarities. If you’d only known he’d so readily shun that portion of the Jedi code….

You forcefully shoved the thoughts aside, blinking and inhaling against the piercing Ilum-cold that had settled in your chest. The chill soured into a bitterness that lingered like jawa juice in the throat, even as you reminded yourself that it was _only _flirting, nothing more. The smile he had given her still turned something in your stomach. Returning to the situation at hand from your introspection, you weren’t sure how you’d kept a straight face through your split-second emotional rollercoaster, but Padmé still watched you expectantly, smiling the awkward smile of girl-talk. 

“He hasn’t had as much practice as you’d think,” you promised, somehow getting the words out without giving away the tightness in your throat. You returned her smile, yours forced for more reasons than one, hoping that it looked so due to inexperience in girl-talk matters. “To be perfectly honest, he’s learning as he goes along. The limitations of Jedi never gave us a lot of time to practice emotions and learn how to deal with them besides ignoring that they exist, if you catch my drift.” You smirked a little, forcing the edge of your mouth up into your cheek as you fought to find justification for Anakin’s actions that doubled as assurance for Padmé. “Though, if he keeps up like that outside of Obi-Wan’s supervision, he’ll have proper flirting down in no time. If there’s one thing that’s held true for us our whole lives, it’s that we’re fast learners.”

Padmé nodded slowly, seeming to understand, and you casually relieved your cheek the duty of holding up your mouth. “I see. It’s still a bit strange to me; I still remember you both as the children from Tatooine. You are both so different now.” She sighed tiredly, and you got the sense that she was still feeling rather defeated over the vote. “I hate to ask this of you, (y/n), but could you perhaps make him see that I would like to get to know him as a friend? Well, both of you, of course. It isn’t that I don’t appreciate his attempts at flirting, but it’s just…” she broke off, searching for words.

“Rather awkward coming from someone you don’t know very well anymore, and have thought of as a child for a decade?” 

Padmé burst into wholehearted laughter, pulling a small, yet genuine smile to the surface of your indifferent mask. “Yes, I suppose that’s exactly it. I would discuss it with him myself, but if you tell someone you want to get to know them better directly, they usually seem to think it’s a go-ahead to continue on as they were, not explore a friendship first, you know?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” you assured her, eyes flitting back to the doorway as Anakin darted back into the room. Your gut reacted to his presence, sending an earthquake of hurt under your ribs.

“Is everything alright?” he asked, giving the room a concerned once-over. “I thought I heard something and I wanted to make sure it wasn’t another attack.”

“Yes, everything is fine,” Padmé assured him. “(Y/n) was trying to boost my spirits, is all.” She bowed her head to you in thanks before meandering back to the bed. The zipper of the bag she’d filled made a long-suffering clicking noise as she pulled it closed against the overfilled interior. 

You shot Anakin a teasing grin, but it was as forced as the smirk you'd given Padmé. "Even if something had happened, I could have held off an attack until you showed up. You aren't the only Jedi here, you know."

Anakin laughed, mistaking any seeped bitterness in your tone for joking sarcasm. "Yeah yeah, but we both know we work best together than when we're apart. That's why it's probably best that we're taking this mission together."

“As a matter of fact, we need to be taking our leave.” Behind Anakin, Captain Typho poked his head into the room, nodding respectfully at Padmé. “Change into something understated, perhaps one of the gowns you wear into town back home when you mingle with the citizens unnoticed. Obi-Wan will return soon with the shuttle to take us to the landing docks.”

“Thank you, Captain.” She paused zipping the bag, pulling a folded-together brown bundle through the small remaining space. “Excuse me.” Captain Typho nodded to her and made his retreat, and casually steering Anakin away by his arm, you followed suit, affording her privacy to change in peace. Her handmaiden, who you hadn’t noticed leave in your haze of emotions, rushed past you to aid the Senator.

“Are you okay?” The question came as a shock, and you stopped dead in the middle of the living area, turning to look at Anakin. 

“Why do you ask?”

“You blocked our link. I sensed it as soon as you did. Is something wrong?”

For a moment, you considered pouring your heart out onto the floor before him, letting him know exactly what you thought and exactly how you felt, how his exchange with Padmé made you feel. Part of you, a rather vindictive part, wanted to spill the truth and open your link to your true emotions, for no other reason than to make him feel guilty, in the hopes that it would equal anywhere near the level of emotional distress his single moment, single attempt at flirting had. You took a long deep breath, making that part of you subside; nothing good would come of such behavior. 

“No, nothing’s wrong.” You said the lie as easily as if it were the truth, but your insides roiled at the fact that you had just lied to the one person you’d never flat-out, truly lied to in your life. Sparks of panic ran up your sides as you scrambled for an excuse for blocking your link. “My hand got stuck behind the shoe rack when I got Padmé’s bracelet. I wasn’t able to get it out without getting hurt, but I figured I’d spare you the pain. It’s still quite sore.” Anakin glanced at your hands, which looked well and truly fine. “Pinched skin and nerves, some bones crushed together while being pulled through a small space is all. No blood.”

“Which hand?” You motioned with your dominant hand, tensing as he gently caught it mid-gesture. He rested the other hand over it, and you made a production of cringing and hissing with the “pain.” Closing his eyes, you sensed him focus his Force abilities on righting whatever wrongs had happened in said hand. A knuckle popped in response, but it was enough to make Anakin feel like he’d achieved something. The presence of his Force abilities retreated. “Better?”

You flexed your hand, testing it as if it had been hurt, taking that little bit of time to bury that languishing bitterness and remnant jealousy deep in your heart, where it wouldn’t shine through to the surface, walling off the evidence of your emotions as easily as you had the effects of your nightmares once upon a time. “Much, thank you.” The block you had instated slid away, and you felt him reach out, sensing your emotions. You knew all he would find was nerves over your mission, and a general neutrality over the situation at hand. 

“I am ready to take my leave.” Padmé came down the hallway, clad in a brown dress a few shades lighter than her eyes, complete with a matching head scarf and understated gold headdress. From what you'd seen of Naboo in your short time mingling during the celebrations after the Trade Federation's defeat, it was fairly standard Naboo citizen garb. Behind her, her handmaiden emerged, donning the blue dress she’d just shed with a multi-bun updo; you realized she was likely staying behind as a decoy, not coming along as you’d thought. Both hauled all three of her bags behind them. “Has Master Kenobi arrived?”

Captain Typho held up a finger where he stood near the elevator, his other hand pressed to his ear as he listened to his headset. “The shuttle will be here in a moment. He is bringing R2-D2 to accompany you on your travels.”

You were glad to hear that the droid would be coming along. “We’ll carry your bags, Padmé. The quicker we get down to the landing pad, the happier Obi-Wan will be.”


End file.
